My name is Riham Smoom, born and living in Jerusalem. I got my BSc in laboratory medicine and MSc in biochemistry & molecular biology at Al-Quds University. I received the competitive GROWTH PhD Fellowship for Palestinian students from the British Council, and just finished my PhD on 9/7/2024 at Prof. Yehuda (Dudy) Tzfati lab, the Genetics department, the Hebrew university of Jerusalem. Currently, I am a post-doctoral researcher in the same lab, in which we are studying telomeres; the repetitive sequences that cap and protect our chromosomes. During aging, our telomeres shorten and contribute to aging associated pathologies. This field of research is very interesting, but a major limitation for using lab mouse as a model in this field is their ultra-long telomeres. Since the beginning of my PhD, I have been studying the role of a DNA helicase (RTEL1) in telomere maintenance using two mouse models which we developed in collaboration with Kaestner's lab at Pennsylvania University. 1- A humanized-telomeres mouse ‘Telomouse’: we proposed that it can serve as a unique and invaluable model for aging and cancer (Smoom et al, Nature Communications 2023). 2-‘HHS mouse’: we proposed that it is an excellent model for Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson Syndrome (HHS) (Smoom et al. BioRxiv 2024).