Simon Boulton : DNA Damage Response

Goals

DNA is a highly reactive molecule that is susceptible to damage. Fortunately, cells have evolved specialised repair processes that are remarkably efficient in correcting specific types of DNA damage. Failure to correctly repair DNA damage will lead to mutagenic change, which can contribute to ageing and cancer. Indeed, defects in genes that repair DNA damage are the underlying cause of a number of hereditary ageing/cancer predisposition syndromes such as Fanconi anemia and Blooms. The focus of my lab is to identify new DNA repair genes, understand how they work in DNA repair in mitotic and meiotic cells and determine how defects in these processes contribute to human disease such as cancer. We hope that our work will provide an improved understanding of how DNA repair works and how, when DNA repair is compromised, it contributes to cancer/ageing and or infertility disorders in humans.