Structures, recruitment and regulation of key components in DNA damage response

DNA can be damaged by UV irradiation, drugs, smoke, alcohol or metabolic products. Our cells have developed many strategies to detect and repair this damage, including using homologous DNA from a sister chromatin. This process is coordinated by the actions of many proteins, the workhorses of the cell. If this repair process is not working properly, such as when certain proteins are defective, the damaged DNA will not be repaired properly or promptly. This can lead to changes in DNA, causing cancer or ageing.

We want to visualise the components in this process to understand how they work and how they are controlled so that we can understand how they repair our damaged DNA.

Our findings will help us understand the cause of cancer and ageing and may also provide new avenues for therapeutic development.