We study the molecular basis of genome integrity and genomic instability, with a focus on DNA helicases and their associated proteins. Currently, we have projects focused on the roles of RecQ4 family helicases in DNA inter-strand crosslink (ICL) repair, the regulation of PIF1 helicases by post-translational modifications, and the interplay between these two helicases as it relates to the regulation of telomerase. In the future, we plan to expand our ICL research to other pathways in multiple model organisms/cell lines because upregulation of these pathways is a common therapeutic resistance mechanism used by cancers. Similarly, we plan to translate our yeast work on Pif1 to study the regulation and in vivo roles of the cancer-linked human PIF1 (hPIF1) helicase. As telomere maintenance is defective in 100% of cancers, we also aim to reconstitute the telomere length homeostasis machinery in vitro to understand how the process works and, potentially, identify druggable targets.
Ph.D. - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 12/2008
Post-doctoral Fellowship - Princeton University 07/2013
