Title:
"Mechanisms of Replication-Coupled DNA Repair"
Kavi Mehta, PhD
Post-Doctoral Fellow, Lab of David Cortez, Department of Biochemistry
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Faculty Host: Laimonis Laimins, PhD
Topic:
The imperative of the cell is to finish replication. Cells experience tens of thousands of DNA lesions per day that must be repaired to ensure that genetic stability is maintained. The replication stress response is required to repair DNA lesions that arise due to both endogenous sources and exogenous, including pathogens and environmental genotoxins found in water, food, and industrial chemicals. My work focuses on understanding mechanisms by which cells protect the genome from genotoxic insult such as the cytidine deaminase APOBEC3A, and how repriming events by specialized polymerases downstream from a genetic lesion are regulated.