Nadya Dimitrova, Ph.D.
Originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, Nadya Dimitrova graduated with an Sc.B. in Biochemistry from Brown University in 2002. She joined the graduate program at the Rockefeller University and in 2009 received a Ph.D. for her work on the signaling and repair of dysfunctional telomeres in the laboratory of Dr. Titia de Lange. For her graduate work, she was awarded the prestigious Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award. As a postdoctoral fellow, she joined the laboratory of Dr. Tyler Jacks at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT where she developed genetic mouse models to study the roles of noncoding RNAs in cancer biology.
Nadya Dimitrova is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University and a member of the Yale Center for RNA Science and Medicine and the Yale Cancer Center. She has a long-standing interest in understanding the functions and mechanisms of action of long noncoding RNAs in the context of cancer. Her work is focused on gaining deeper insights into the basic biology of long noncoding RNAs and has the potential to change the way we think about the noncoding space of our genome. Her research carries important implications for our knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms underlying normal and cancer states and for the development of RNA-based therapies in cancer. Nadya Dimitrova is the recipient of the HHMI Predoctoral Fellowship, the Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, and the Lung Cancer Research Foundation 2016 Scientific Merit Award. At Yale College, Nadya Dimitrova teaches advanced undergraduate seminar courses on Epigenetics and The Human Genome.
Research:
The Dimitrova laboratory investigates the functions and mechanisms of action of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in the context of cancer. Our goal is to elucidate the roles of lncRNAs in the regulation of the cancer transcriptome and to unveil their importance for tumor initiation and progression. To achieve these objectives, we leverage expertise in cutting-edge biochemical, molecular, cellular, and genome editing technologies, state-of-the-art mouse models, deep conceptual understanding of the subjects at hand and strong dedication to basic cancer biology research. With the advent of technologies that can interfere with lncRNA function, improved understanding of lncRNA biology will undoubtedly accelerate the development of medical and therapeutic applications.
Administrative Support: Michele White