King's Old Boy
Alex van der Weerden attended King's from 2014-2018.
Alex is studying towards a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Genetics, with the Department of Biochemistry.
The gifted young researcher has received a scholarship from The Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust for his Honours Research Project: Investigating how non-coding RNA may drive disease.
Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is best known for carrying out the instructions encoded by DNA to make proteins. However, some RNA does not make proteins and instead has another function. These are non-coding RNAs.
As Alex explains, “knowledge about the human genome is constantly expanding. New non-coding elements are being discovered which, rather than encoding for proteins, typically have regulatory roles in gene expression. The regulation of gene expression is increasingly being understood as crucial for normal cell function. Likewise, disruptions to gene regulation are constantly being seen as drivers of various diseases.”
During his Undergraduate Degree, Alex was particularly interested in the content of Associate Professor Stephanie Hughes’ lectures, so he approached her to become involved with a summer research project with the Hughes Laboratory.
Alex says "it was great to undertake a summer research project as it gives you experience in how a lab works and finding out if this work is for you in a 10-week period before you commit for longer.”
He will now use the skills he learned over the summer, applying them to a new project. The lab recently discovered long non-coding RNAs have critical roles in neuron function.
Alex’s current research is part of the continuing project by the lab, to further understand the role of how these non-coding RNAs contribute to neurological diseases. Alex mentioned everyone in the lab has been hugely welcoming and he is enjoying being part of a team at the forefront of scientific discovery.
“The area of non-coding RNA is really cool because it’s so new. We’ve never really known that these things have this important purpose. The link between these non-coding RNAs and neurological disease hasn’t been explored that much so to be part of that ground-breaking area is amazing. Research into this is important because RNA is something that is easy to target with drugs. Identifying how defective non-coding RNA may cause neurological diseases could open the door to a new type of RNA-focused therapy for these severe and often untreatable diseases.”
The King's teachers and community wish him the best with his current and future research projects.