School of Life Sciences

Sweet Lab

DNA damage repair in the context of chromatin

Our research addresses the interplay between chromatin, specifically histone post-translational modifications, and DNA damage repair.

Histone proteins are characterized by many different post-translational modifications (PTMs) at many different sites: different patterns are associated with active and inactive genes; different PTMs have been shown to interact, e.g. H3S10 phosphorylation and H3K9 methylation. This diversity and cross-talk suggests a high potential for regulation of events such as gene transcription, DNA replication and DNA repair.

Our initial focus is on the alteration and potential re-establishment of chromatin patterns associated with repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Aberrant DNA damage repair and genomic instability are hallmarks of cancer. The epigenetic nature and role of histone modifications is a fascinating area of research. We aim to contribute to these areas, through the use of both yeast and mammalian model systems coupled with mass spectrometric analysis of histone PTMs.

Our research work is funded by:

Medical Research Council

 

 

Contact

Dr Steve Sweet

Senior Research Fellow

University of Sussex
Genome Damage and Stability Centre
Brighton, BN1 9RQ

E  s.m.sweet@sussex.ac.uk

T  +44 1273 877 414

University profile