CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGY OF MAMMALIAN DNA REPAIR
Introduction Our research program combines organic chemistry, biochemistry and molecular and cell biology to investigate the mechanisms of DNA repair in higher eukaryotes and the relationship of these processes to carcinogenesis and anti-tumor therapy. Members of our laboratory therefore have the opportunity to engage in an interdisciplinary research program tailor-made to their interests in chemistry and/or biology. In addition to the description of our research below, please refer to our group member page to get more information on the projects of individual group members and feel free to contact any of them or Orlando Schärer directly for more information.
DNA damage and repair Numerous agents of endogenous and exogenous origin damage DNA in our genome. There are several DNA-repair pathways that recognize lesions in DNA and remove them through a number of diverse reaction sequences. Defects in DNA-repair proteins are associated with several human hereditary syndromes, such as Xeroderma Pigmentosum, which show a marked predisposition to cancer. Although DNA repair is essential for a healthy cell, DNA repair enzymes counteract the efficiency of a number of important antitumor agents that exert their cytotoxic effects by damaging DNA such cisplatin or nitrogen mustards. DNA repair enzymes are therefore also targets for drug design. In our group we are specifically interested in nucleotide excision repair (NER) and interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair.