Associate professor
Affiliation
Université de Montréal
Research Axes
Team
- Émile Fortier, PhD student
- Roch Tremblay, PhD student
- Sari Gezzar-Dandashi, PhD student
- Yosra Merhjoo, PhD student
- Aimé Boris Kimenyi Ishimwe, PhD student
- Jyoti Sharma, MSc student
- Jean-François Lemay, Research associate
- Edlie St-Hilaire, Research associate
Hugo Wurtele, PhD, heads the DNA Replication and Genome Stability Research Unit. He is an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Université de Montréal.
Research Unit
DNA Replication and Genome Stability
DNA damage can cause the inactivation or aberrant activation of various genes, which leads to the development of cancer. DNA repair mechanisms allow normal cells to survive this damage, but they can also compromise the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments that kill cancer cells by inducing massive DNA damage. Research on DNA repair is therefore crucial for us to better understand the mechanisms leading to the development of cancer so that we can create new treatment modalities.
We use human cells in culture and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast as experimental models, as well as fluorescent microscopy, biochemistry and genetic approaches, to better understand how cancer cells respond to anticancer drugs that cause DNA damage. We are particularly interested in the mechanisms that influence the efficacy of chemotherapy agents that prevent the duplication of genetic material (DNA replication).
A better understanding of these phenomena will lead to the development of new cancer treatment strategies and will identify molecular markers to better classify tumours in order to define appropriate treatments for each patient.
Publications
Voir toutes les publications-
Lemay J-F, St-Hilaire E, Gezzar-Dandashi S, McQuaid M, Ronato DA, Gao Y, Bélanger F, Sawchyn C, Kimenyi Ishimwe AB, Mallette FA, Masson J-Y, Drobetsky EA, Wurtele H (2022) A genome-wide screen identifies SCAI as a modulator of the UV-induced replicative stress response in human cells. PLoS Biol. 2022 Oct 10;20(10):e3001543. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001543.
More detail -
McQuaid ME, Ahmed K, Tran S, Rousseau J, Shaheen R, Kernohan K, Yuki K, Grover P, Dreseris E, Ahmed S, Dupuis L, Stimec J, Shago M, Alhassnan Z, Tremblay R, Maass PS, Wilson M, Grunebaum E, Boycott K, Boisvert FM, Maddirevula S, Faqeih E, Almanjomi F, Khan Z, Alkuraya F, Campeau P, Kannu P, Campos E, Wurtele H (2022) Hypomorphic GINS3 variants alter DNA replication and cause Meier-Gorlin Syndrome. JCI Insight 7(10):e155648.
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Bélanger F, Fortier E, Dubé M, Lemay JF, Buisson R, Masson JY, Elsherbiny A, Costantino S, Carmona E, Mes-Masson AM, Wurtele H*, Drobetsky E* (2018) Replication Protein A Availability During DNA Replication Stress Is a Major Determinant of Cisplatin Resistance in Ovarian Cancer Cells. Cancer Research doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-18-0618.
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Simoneau A, Ricard É, Wurtele H (2018) An interplay between multiple sirtuins promotes completion of DNA replication in cells with short telomeres. PLoS Genetics. 14(4):e1007356.
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Desfossés-Baron K, Hammond-Martel I, Simoneau A, Sellam A, Roberts S, Wurtele H. (2016) Valproate inhibits MAP kinase signalling and cell cycle progression in S. cerevisiae. Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/srep36013
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Simoneau A, Ricard É, Weber S, Hammond-Martel I, Wong LH, Sellam A, Giaever G, Nislow C, Raymond M, Wurtele H. (2016) Chromosome-wide histone deacetylation by sirtuins prevents hyperactivation of DNA damage-induced signalling upon replicative stress. Nucleic Acids Research. 44(6):2706-26.
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Bélanger F, Angers JP, Fortier É, Hammond-Martel I, Costantino S, Drobetsky E, Wurtele H. (2016) Mutations in Replicative Stress Response Pathways Are Associated with S Phase-Specific Defects in Nucleotide Excision Repair. Journal of Biological Chemistry 291(2):522-37.
Education
Postdoctoral fellowship
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, États-Unis
Postdoctoral fellowship
IRIC, Université de Montréal
PhD
CRCHUM, Université de Montréal
Awards
- 2020 Senior Researcher (FRQS)
- 2016 Junior 2 Research Scholar (FRQS)
- 2012 Junior 1 Research Scholar (FRQS)
- 2012 Finalist for the Maud Menten New Principal Investigator Prize (CIHR)
- 2010 Postdoctoral Fellowship (Human Frontier Science Program)
- 2008 Postdoctoral Fellowship (Cancer Research Society, Canada)
- 2004 PhD fellowship (FRSQ)