Investigating the role of induced histone marks in the repair of DNA damage

Genome instability is a driver of cancer and understanding how the cell repairs DNA damage is critical to combating disease. The response to DNA damage reshapes the local chromatin environment and is largely orchestrated by the deposition, removal and detection of a complex set of chromatin post-translational modifications. Nucleosome modifications act as a central signalling hub in this network to organise responses to a neighbouring damage.
While many factors are known to localise to modified damage-adjacent chromatin, how these factors bind to modified chromatin and perform their function is unclear.

Using a wide variety of techniques, principally cryogenic Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM), we aim to characterise the chromatin environment at the sites of DNA damage and understand the molecular mechanisms of deposition, reading and removal of DNA damage histone marks. Focusing on histone ubiquitylation after DNA damage this project will involve:

1) Protein expression and purification of chromatin proteins and histones
2) Chemical biology approaches to generate modified proteins
3) Mass spectrometry approaches to identify novel DNA-damage responsive chromatin interactors
4) Protein biochemistry and biophysical techniques to understand binding and enzymology of DNA damage proteins to modified nucleosome templates
5) Structural biology approaches, in particular cryo-EM, to understand the molecular mechanisms of chromatin interactions
6) Cell biology to extend our in vitro observations into the cell

This would be an ideal project to suit a passionate, motivated student interested in how molecular understanding can help explain fundamental biological processes. A background in biochemistry, structural biology or chemical biology is preferable. Applicants must have, or expecting to be awarded, at least an upper-second class degree (or equivalent qualification) in an area of biochemical sciences.

We are a newly established lab based in the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh. We are a highly collaborative group excited about understanding how epigenetic marks are deposited, read and removed on chromatin. The lab is currently funded by the Wellcome Trust. Sources of funding are available for both UK and non-UK students, for more information see our website and get in touch, www.mdwilsonlab.com.