Email

gira@bcm.edu

Positions

Professor

Molecular and Human Genetics
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Member

Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, Texas United States

Education

PhD from Copernicus University and Jacques Monod Institute

01/1999 - Torun/Paris, Poland/France

Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brandeis University

06/2005 - Waltham, Massachusetts United States

Honors & Awards

Michael E. DeBakey, M.D., Excellence in Research Award

01/2009 - 01/2010

President’s Award for Innovative Research

Baylor College of Medicine (06/2014)

Professional Interests

• Genome Instability
• Molecular mechanisms and regulation of DNA recombination

Professional Statement

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.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Yu Y, Pham N, Xia B, Papusha A, Wang G, Yan Z, Peng G, Chen K, Ira G "Dna2 nuclease deficiency results in large and complex DNA insertions at chromosomal breaks." Nature. 2018;564:287–290.
• Mayle R, Campbell IM, Beck CR, Yang Y, Wilson M, Shaw CA, Bjergbaek L, Lupski JR, Ira G "Mus81 and converging forks limit the mutagenicity of replication fork breakage." Science. 2015 Aug 14;349:742-747.
• Wilson MA, Kwon Y, Xu Y, Chung WH, Chi P, Niu H, Mayle R, Chen X, Malkova A, Sung P, Ira G "Pif1 helicase and Polδ promote recombination-coupled DNA synthesis via bubble migration.." Nature. 2013;502(7471):393-6. Pubmed PMID: 24025768
• Chen X, Cui D, Papusha A, Zhang X, Chu CD, Tang J, Chen K, Pan X, Ira G "The Fun30 nucleosome remodeller promotes resection of DNA double-strand break ends.." Nature. 2012 Sep 27;489(7417):576-80. Pubmed PMID: 22960743