The Rockefeller University » DNA Interstrand Crosslink Repair: from Genetics to Mechanism

Event Details

Type: Friday Lecture Series
Speaker(s): Agata Smogorzewska, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor and head, Laboratory of Genome Maintenance, The Rockefeller University
Speaker bio(s): The focus of Dr. Smogorzewska's research is to understand the mechanism of DNA interstrand crosslink (ICL) repair with the overall goal of gaining insights into the cellular and organismal consequences of deficiencies in this type of repair. ICL repair takes place at sites where the two strands of the DNA have become covalently linked by the byproducts of metabolism or chemotherapeutics, preventing replication and transcription. Failure of ICL repair results in developmental abnormalities, bone marrow failure, cancer predisposition, or kidney failure as seen in Fanconi anemia and related disorders. Dr. Smogorzewska will discuss her team's work identifying novel genes in patients with ICL repair deficiency, highlighting how they are able to use insights and patient-derived tools in their quest to understand the mechanism of DNA repair on the cellular and organismal level.

Dr. Smogorzewska received her B.S. in molecular biology and biochemistry from the University of Southern California in 1995, her Ph.D. from The Rockefeller University in 2002 and her M.D. from Weill Cornell Medical College in 2003. Following a residency in clinical pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, she joined Harvard Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow in Stephen Elledge’s lab in 2005. She joined The Rockefeller University as an assistant professor in 2009.

Dr. Smogorzewska is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Pershing Square Sohn Prize in 2014, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award in 2011, the Irma T. Hirschl Research Award and Rita Allen Foundation Scholars Program Grant in 2010, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists in 2008 and the Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award in 2002.
Open to: Public
Reception: Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge
Contact: Linda Hanssler
Phone: (212) 327-7714
Sponsor: Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu
Readings: http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3815

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