On Tuesday 9 June 2020, A.C. Ribeiro da Silva will defend her PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘Nucleotide Excision Repair Through the Looking Glass’.
The thesis entitled “Nucleotide excision repair through the looking glass” studies the regulation of the DNA damage repair pathway Nucleotide excision repair (NER) by chromatin-modifying enzymes and by the interplay between NER factors themselves.
In this book, it is described how SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling proteins, which are amongst the most frequently mutated proteins in cancer, modulate repair by NER by promoting the stability and functionality of essential NER factor, the TFIIH complex. Furthermore, CHD1 was identified as a novel chromatin remodeler with a (still uncharacterized) function in NER. A profound reflection is made on the implications of these findings, linking DNA damage related vulnerabilities that arise from chromatin remodeling dysfunction with tumorigenesis and their potential exploitation in precision cancer therapy. Furthermore, dissection of the temporal and spatial regulation of NER during the first steps of damage detection revealed an intricate interplay between the different NER steps, dependent on cooperative and competitive interactions.
The PhD defences will not take place publicly in the Senate Hall or Professor Andries Queridoroom due to the coronavirus. The candidates will defend their thesis online.