Stephen West : Genetic Recombination

Goals

Our genetic material (DNA) is continually subjected to damage, either from endogenous sources such as reactive oxygen species produced as by-products of oxidative metabolism, from the breakdown of replication forks during cell growth, or by agents in the environment such as ionising radiation or carcinogenic chemicals. To cope with such damage, cells employ a variety of repair processes that are specialised to recognise different types of lesions in DNA. These repair systems are essential for the maintenance of genome integrity and for cancer avoidance. The focus of our research is to determine the cellular mechanisms for repair and, most importantly, to define the cellular defects that lead to cancers and neurodegeneration, two common consequences of defective damage processing. Our present work focuses on the molecular analysis of proteins such as BRCA2, GEN1, MUS81-EME1, SLX1-SLX4, FANCM and SEN1.