Assistant Professor, Departments of Molecular and Human Genetics

Ph.D., Copernicus University, 1999
Postdoc, Brandeis University, 2005

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

DNA recombination is ubiquitous and essential for DNA-based life. Recombination repairs DNA gaps and breaks that occur during replication or are induced in meiosis. Mutation in human genes involved in homologous recombination results in genome instability and diseases including a large fraction of inherited breast and ovarian cancers, Nijmegen breakage syndrome, ataxia telangiectasia, Bloom syndrome, Fanconi Anemia, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, and others. Eukaryotes show a very high degree of conservation of mechanisms and protein components of recombination. This offers a great potential for using model organisms to study DNA recombination processes. We use budding yeast, given the extensive genetic and molecular approaches available.

Our research goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms of homologous recombination and the role different proteins play during recombination. More specifically we are focusing on the function of DNA helicases and newly identified in genetic screen proteins in DNA repair. The main experimental model is recombination induced by a single double-strand-break. This assay allows us to follow the kinetics of all steps in recombination at the level of DNA strand exchange and protein-DNA interaction. The results from our projects will constitute the foundation for studying DNA recombination in human cells and will provide insight into molecular basis of genetic instability observed in cancer.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

1. Zhu Z, Chung WH, Shim EY, Lee SE, Ira G (2008). Sgs1 helicase and two nucleases Dna2 and Exo1 resect DNA double strand break ends. Cell, in press.

2. Ira G, Satory D, Haber JE (2006). Conservative inheritance of newly synthesized DNA in double-strand break-induced gene conversion. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26: 9424-9429.

3. De Piccoli G*, Cortes-Ledesma F*, Ira G*, Torres-Rosell J, Uhle S, Farmer S, Hwang JY, Machin F, Ceschia A, McAleenan A, Cordon-Preciado V, Clemente-Blanco A, Vilella-Mitjana F, Ullal P, Jarmuz A, Leitao B, Bressan D, Dotiwala F, Papusha A, Zhao X, Myung K, Haber JE, Aguilera A, Aragon L (2006). Smc5-Smc6 mediate DNA double-strand-break repair by promoting sister-chromatid recombination. Nat. Cell Biol. 8: 1032-1034. (*Co-first authors)

4. Ira G, Pellicioli A, Balijja A, Wang X, Fiorani S, Carotenuto W, Liberi G, Bressan D, Wan L, Hollingsworth NM, Haber JE, Foiani M (2004). DNA end resection, homologous recombination and DNA damage checkpoint activation require CDK1. Nature 431: 1011-1017.

5. Wang X, Ira G, Tercero JA, Holmes AM, Diffley JF, Haber JE (2004). Role of DNA Replication Proteins in Double-Strand Break-Induced Recombination in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol. Cell. Biol. 24: 6891-6899.

6. Haber JE, Ira G, Malkova A, Sugawara N (2004). Repairing a double-strand chromosome break by homologous recombination: revisiting Robin Holliday's model. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 359: 79-86.

7. Ira G, Malkova A, Liberi G, Foiani M, Haber JE (2003). Srs2 and Sgs1-Top3 suppress crossovers during double-strand break repair in yeast. Cell 115: 401-411.

8. Vaze MB, Pellicioli A, Lee SE, Ira G, Liberi G, Arbel-Eden A, Foiani M, Haber JE (2002). Recovery from checkpoint-mediated arrest after repair of a double-strand break requires Srs2 helicase. Mol. Cell 10: 373-385.

9. Ira G, Haber JE (2002). Characterization of RAD51-independent break-induced replication that acts preferentially with short homologous sequences. Mol. Cell. Biol. 22: 6384-6392.

For more publications, see listing on Pub Med.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Grzegorz Ira, Ph.D.
Baylor College of Medicine
One Baylor Plaza, Rm T821
Houston, TX 77030, U.S.A.
Mail Stop: BCM225

Phone: 713-798-1017
Fax: 713-798-8967
E-mail:

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