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.