Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen

2026 United Kingdom Award Finalist — Faculty

Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen

Current Position:
Group Leader, MRC Investigator

Institution:
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Discipline:
Molecular & Cellular Biology

Recognised for: Using cryo-EM to generate the first atomic structure of human telomerase, uncovering novel insight about the recruitment and function of this enzyme that plays a crucial role in ageing and cancer.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Telomere biology, RNA biology, nucleic acid-protein biochemistry, structural biology

Previous Positions:

  • PhB, Australian National University, Australia
  • PhD, University of Cambridge (Advisor: Kiyoshi Nagai)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Advisor: Kiyoshi Nagai)
  • Miller Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley, United States (Advisor: Kathleen Collins and Eva Nogales)
  • Program Leader Track, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Research Summary:

The processes of ageing and cancer are closely linked to the function of a critical enzyme, telomerase, which elongates the ends of chromosomes after each round of cell division. This makes telomerase an ideal therapeutic target for premature ageing syndromes and cancers. Despite the central role of telomerase in mammalian biology, its structure has remained elusive. Molecular biologist Thi Hoang Duong (Kelly) Nguyen, PhD, employed high-resolution microscopy to generate the first-ever atomic model of telomerase. This structural insight has revealed information about how telomerase is recruited to, and interacts with, DNA and other proteins to prevent chromosomal ends from erosion. Importantly, Nguyen has identified a site of many disease-causing mutations within this structure, expanding our knowledge of how telomerase activity is disrupted in disease and charting a path toward therapeutic approaches that target telomerase.

“I am deeply honoured to be recognised with a Blavatnik Award for our work uncovering fundamental mechanisms in telomere biology. I am profoundly grateful to my exceptional group members, collaborators, mentors and colleagues who made this achievement possible. Every day remains an exciting and inspiring opportunity to come to work.”

Key Publications:

  1. G.E. Ghanim, A.J. Fountain, A.M. van Roon, R. Rangan, R. Das, K. Collins, T.H.D. Nguyen. Structure of human telomerase holoenzyme with bound telomeric DNA. Nature, 2021.

  2. Z. Sekne, G.E. Ghanim, A.M. van Roon, T.H.D. Nguyen. Structural basis of human telomerase recruitment by TPP1-POT1. Science, 2022.
  3. G.E. Ghanim, H. Hu, J. Boulanger, T.H.D. Nguyen. Structural mechanism of LINE-1 target-primed reverse transcription. Science, 2025.

  4. S. Balch, Z. Sekne, E. Franco-Echevarría, P. Ludzia, R.C. Kretsch, W. Sun, H. Yu, GE Ghanim, S. Thorkelsson, Y. Ding, R. Das, T.H.D. Nguyen. Cryo-EM structure of human telomerase dimer reveals H/ACA RNP-mediated dimerization. Science, 2025.

Other Honors:

2025 Research Prize, The Lister Institute
2024 The Colworth Medal, Biochemical Society
2022 Young Investigator Award, EMBO
2022 Career Development Award, Wellcome Trust
2022 Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators, Eppendorf
2020 Suffrage Science Award, MRC London Institute of Medical Sciences

In the Media:

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