Marina Tourlakis

Biography

Marina Tourlakis is a molecular geneticist with 3 primary areas of interest: ribosome biology, plant defences, and cancer genomics. Marina’s teaching aims to showcase how science is relevant to our everyday lives using current research and popular media. She also heavily incorporates her personal passions for drawing and science communication to help students engage with class material in non-traditional formats. She hopes her enthusiasm for biology inspires a life-long love of learning in students and deeper engagement with the beautiful world around us. During her BSc (Spec. Hons. Biology, York University), Marina researched a protein that confers resistance to viral attack in the American pokeweed plant with Dr. K. A. Hudak. The pokeweed antiviral protein behaves as a “kill switch,” incapacitating a key molecular machine present in all known life forms: the ribosome. The ribosome is the translator of the genome; its input is genetic code and its output is protein. The ribosome is also the academic love of Marina’s life.

Research Interest

Molecular Genetics