Biography & Research:
DNA damage response and repair signaling genes plays important roles during organism development and during the aging, and constantly protect chromosomal DNA from environmental and metabolically generated genotoxins, including oncogenic replication stress. Mutations in these genes cause genome instability/cancer predisposition syndromes such as Fanconi anemia (FA) and Breast and Ovarian Cancer early onset (BRCA) and early onset of aging and age related diseases such as neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. The mechanisms and their regulation are highly complex, and often they are differentially regulated during organism development and in malignant cells, particularly in the context of oncogenic or growth factor signals they adopt. Our research employs multidisciplinary approaches to identify gene regulatory networks and cell signaling mechanisms that control these processes during carcinogenesis, aging and neurodegenerative diseases.