Rate My Professor Joe Nassour

Joe Nassour, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He earned his PhD from the Pasteur Institute of Lille - University of Lille, France. Nassour's laboratory focuses on telomere biology and its role in suppressing cancer development. The lab examines how telomere shortening during replicative aging imposes barriers to cell proliferation, preventing the attainment of cellular immortality required for tumorigenesis. Utilizing advanced techniques in cell biology, molecular biology, and single-cell multiomics, his research explores the interplay between telomere dysfunction, mitochondrial signaling, innate immune activation, and autophagy. These mechanisms collectively restrict the early stages of tumor formation, with the goal of identifying new avenues for cancer prevention and therapy. Current projects address proliferative barriers to cell immortalization, telomere-mitochondria-innate immunity crosstalk, and the genomic consequences of telomere dysfunction.