DrAlexander Sobinoff

Dr Sobinoff is a Research Fellow at the Children's Medical Research Institute and a Conjoint Senior Lecturer (Level C) within the University of Sydney's Faculty of Medicine and Health. A molecular and cellular biologist with over a decade of research experience, he specialises in telomere biology, genome stability, and DNA recombination and repair. Dr Sobinoff has been instrumental in shaping the modern field of Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT). His pioneering research has led to internationally recognised methods for measuring telomere extension and has identified the first viable therapeutic target for ALT cancers.

Dr Sobinoff's research program focuses on gene discovery through functional genomics, characterising the mechanisms by which cancer cells maintain and repair their telomeres. Key contributions from his work include:

• Defining the telomere recombination protein complexes that govern ALT activity (Sobinoff et al., EMBO J, 2017).
• Uncovering the role of replication fork restart in break-induced telomere synthesis (Lu^#, O'Rourke^#, Sobino?^# et al., Nat Commun, 2019).
• Developing the first covalent binder of the telomere-binding protein TRF2, effectively inducing telomeric replication stress and inhibiting cancer cell growth (Sobinoff et al., Cell Chem Biol, 2023).
• Identifying the DBHS RNA/DNA binding proteins (NONO, SFPQ, PSPC1) as essential regulators of telomerase recruitment (Sobinoff et al., Nat Commun, 2025).