`DNA repair in chromatin: the cancer connection
Van Leeuwenhoek Lecture on BioScience.
Haicovan Attikum is full professor of Chromatin and DNA repair at the Department of Human Genetics (LUMC). He received his PhD in Molecular Genetics (Leiden, 2003, Paul Hooykaas). He became a postdoc at the University of Geneva in 2003 and accompanied the group when it moved to the Friedrich Messer Institute in Basel in 2004. In 2007 he was appointed as junior group leader at the Department of Toxicogenetics (LUMC). His group employs a cross-disciplinary systems biology-based approach that encompasses genetics, proteomics, microscopy and bioinformatics in yeast, mouse and human-patient cells to identify the proteins that constitute DNA damage response (DDR) pathways, and study their impact on genomic stability maintenance and human disease.
For his work he receives funding from NWO-VIDI, TOP-GO, Human Frontier Science program (HFSP-CDA), KWF, the European Union (Horizon 2020) and the Europe Research Council (EC-Consolidator). He was awarded the Young Scientist Award 2009 by the European Environmental Mutagens Society (EEMS) and the C.J. Kok price by the LUMC (2012). In 2017 he was appointed president of the netherlands Society for Radiobology (NVRB)
Our cells receive tens of thousands of different DNA lesions per day. Failure to repair these lesions will lead to cell death, mutations and genome instability, which contribute to human diseases such as cancer. Efficient recognition and repair of DNA damage, however, is complicated by the fact that genomic DNA is packaged, through histone and non-histone proteins, into a condensed structure called chromatin. The DNA repair machinery has to circumvent this barrier to gain access to the damaged DNA and repair the lesions. By using a cross-disciplinary approach that combines cutting-edge genomics with bioinformatics, genetics, biochemistry and high-resolution microscopy, we have begun to elucidate how DNA repair is orchestrated in chromatin. In my lecture I will provide an overview of the current status of our work and highlight some recent advances in regard to cancer therapy and cancer risk assessment.
Upcoming speakers
- No upcoming speakers