Effects of transcription on genome stability at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com

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Prof N J Savery Applications accepted all year round Self-Funded PhD Students Only

Bristol United Kingdom Biochemistry Biophysics Genetics Microbiology Molecular Biology

About the Project

Transcription-coupled DNA repair (TCR) pathways prioritise the repair of certain lesions in "active" genes. These pathways help maintain genome integrity throughout the lifetime of multi-cellular organisms, and thus help prevent the occurrence of mutation that might cause cancer or other disorders. In bacteria, TCR also helps prevent mutagenesis, but in some circumstances components of the TCR pathway promote the generation of antibiotic-resistant mutants.

Research in our lab is focused on understanding the effects of DNA damage on transcription, and of the molecular mechanisms of TCR. We work primarily with a bacterial model system, and use a combination of in vivo and in vitro assays to investigate the mechanisms by which RNA polymerases are removed from the site of damage, and the DNA repair process is accelerated. We also have interests in various other aspects of transcriptional control and DNA repair, and prospective students should contact us for further details of possible graduate student projects to be offered in the forthcoming year.

Website: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biochemistry/research/ns.html

References

Fan, J., Leroux-Coyau, M., Savery, N.J. and Strick, T.R. (2016) Reconstruction of bacterial transcription-coupled repair at single-molecule resolution. Nature, 536, pp. 234-237.

Haines, NM, Kim, Y-I, Smith, AJ & Savery, NJ 2014, ‘Stalled transcription complexes promote DNA repair at a distance’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 111., pp. 4037-42

Where will I study?

University of Bristol

The University''s outstanding reputation makes our students highly attractive to employers. Bristol is ranked joint seventh in the UK for graduate employability (QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2022).