Sean Flynn

Dr Sean Flynn

BA (Mod) PhD

Sean is a Junior Research Fellow and was previously a PhD student at Wolfson College. His research at the CRUK Cambridge Institute focuses on DNA structure and gene regulation.

Sean Flynn

Sean graduated with a BA in Human Genetics from Trinity College Dublin in 2013, and received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2018. For his PhD with Professor Mario de Bono at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, he identified genes and pathways that function in the nervous system using the small model organism C. elegans.

In 2020 he joined Professor Shankar Balasubramanian’s lab as a postdoctoral research associate at the CRUK Cambridge Institute, and in 2021 he was awarded a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship to investigate the biological functions of alternative DNA structures in the human genome.

In addition to the well-known double helix, DNA can form alternative structures such as the 4-stranded quadruplex. Although most of our DNA adopts a double helix, thousands of sites quadruplex structures form in our genome, like knots on a piece of string. However, their functions are not well understood. Sean is interested in understanding the role of quadruplex DNA in basic biological processes and identifying mechanisms by which it regulates gene expression.

Sean is based at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, where he uses genetic and genomics methods to study G-quadruplexes in human cells. He also works closely with colleagues at the Department of Chemistry.

What's on

Photograph by Hannah Lister

Art Exhibition: 'Signs for the Living'

04/02/2023 at 10.00

Visit Wolfson's latest exhibition 'Signs for the Living' featuring work by Hannah Lister, winner of this year's Wolfson Royal Academy Schools Graduate prize.

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Candles

Lent Term College Service

07/02/2023 at 18.15

Wolfson's termly College Service led by our ecumenical Chaplaincy Team.

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Toy spaceship crashed in the dirt

Green Talk: Sustainability in the Space Industry - rethinking ‘impact’

08/02/2023 at 18.00

How can we think more widely about sustainability in space?

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Old photograph album in the foreground; basket of old documents in the background

WolfWorks - Research data management for your dissertation or thesis

11/02/2023 at 10.00

A hands-on session to help you manage your data - whether copies of archival documents, interview transcripts, code or physical samples.

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Photograph by Hannah Lister

Hannah Lister: Signs for the Living Exhibition Opening Event

14/02/2023 at 17.30

We warmly invite you to the opening night of Wolfson’s new exhibition: Hannah Lister - Signs for the Living.

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