Ci Ji Lim is a professor in the Department of Biochemistry. His research on telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, investigates how mammalian telomeres are regulated and how they achieve homeostasis. He sat down with Department of Biochemistry science writer Renata Solan to talk about his research, collaborations, and experience as an innovator.
What is your research about?
My research explores how telomeres — the protective ends of chromosomes — are maintained and regulated to preserve genome stability. We ask fundamental questions about telomere biology and use a wide variety of tools, including developing new ones, to study their organization and function. Understanding these mechanisms provides insights into aging, cancer, and other diseases that have been associated with genome instability.
What excites you about scientific research?
I am excited by the challenge of uncovering fundamental mechanisms of telomere maintenance in humans. Building new tools to probe telomere biology allows us to ask questions that were previously inaccessible. And, the potential to reveal insights into aging, cancer, and other diseases makes this work both impactful and intellectually stimulating.
How do you develop research questions?
I identify fundamental gaps in our understanding of telomere maintenance and genome stability, and I integrate insights from other research areas and leverage innovative tools to explore these gaps in new ways. This approach allows us to uncover novel mechanisms and expand our understanding of telomere biology.
How does your work benefit from research partnerships and collaborations?
My research partnerships and my on- and off-campus collaborators bring diverse perspectives and expertise that help expand the scope of our investigations. They inspire new questions, introduce innovative methodologies, and accelerate discoveries. These interactions enhance our ability to tackle fundamental questions in telomere biology.
What inspires you to innovate?
We aim to ask the most important and exciting questions in telomere biology, and if existing tools cannot provide the most direct answers, we work to develop new ones. For example, we are developing a method to map the telomere chromatin landscape, which has not yet been explored. Our structural studies of telomeric molecular complexes are often limited by sample preparation challenges, so we adapted a stress-response solution from small animals to overcome this problem.
How have the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) and entrepreneurial programs across UW–Madison’s campus contributed to your experience as an innovator?
Having WARF and Discovery to Product (D2P) on campus has opened my eyes to how our research ideas and products can be translated into innovative tools and applications. Their support has provided valuable guidance on intellectual property, commercialization, and bringing new technologies to a broader audience. For example, the Draper Technology Innovation Fund (TIF), awarded by D2P, has helped us expand the scope of our innovations in cryo-electron microscopy sample preparation and will enable us to overcome key technical challenges.
The Lim Lab is funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, Pew Charitable Trusts, and WARF.