André Nussenzweig, chief of the Laboratory of Genome Integrity at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research and a National Institutes of Health distinguished investigator, will deliver an Apex Lecture on Monday, Dec. 15, at 2:00 p.m. in 1220 Medical Research Building III. The title of his talk is, “Genome Stability in Mitotic and Post-Mitotic Cells.” The lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Medicine Basic Sciences and the Department of Biochemistry.
Nussenzweig is a leading contributor to the study of mechanisms that maintain genomic stability and prevent cancer. Nussenzweig’s laboratory has made major contributions towards a detailed understanding of DNA repair pathway selection as a primary influence on genomic stability and drug resistance/sensitivity in breast and ovarian cancers, and the influential role of DNA repair proteins in the promotion of specific hematological malignancies. Ongoing studies have emphasized the importance of DNA repair pathways as drivers of specific hematological malignancies and as contributors to chemoresistance/sensitivity in breast and ovarian cancers. The goal of his program is to use hypothesis-driven approaches to develop therapeutic strategies in the treatment of cancers.
Nussenzweig received his bachelor’s degree in physics from New York University and his doctoral degree in physics from Yale. He pursued his postdoctoral training at the Laboratoire de spectroscopie Hertzienne de l’École normale supérieure in France and the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He started at the National Institutes of Health as a senior investigator in experimental immunology, where he rose up the ranks until he was promoted to branch chief in 2011. He was given the title of “NIH distinguished investigator” in 2016. Nussenzweig is a member of the American Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Academy of Sciences.
The research program in the Laboratory of Genome Integrity is focused on the exploration of the causes and effects of genomic instability, mechanisms of DNA repair, and the study of DNA repair breakdown as an initiating or protective event in aging and cancers. This research provides a mechanistic understanding of genome maintenance pathways and their intersection with normal cellular physiology, thereby generating insights that can lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies. Nussenzweig has developed innovative methods that led him to discover the causes of neurotoxicity of some cancer drugs and the origins of neurodegenerative phenotypes in patients with alterations in DNA break repair. His research also uncovered cancer drug resistance mechanisms and a rationale of how to overcome this resistance through targeting of new cancer cell vulnerabilities.
Lecture abstract
Nussenzweig’s laboratory has discovered how DNA repair pathway selection controls genome integrity and contributes to cancer drug resistance/sensitivity. He also has described how alterations in DNA repair pathways act as drivers of malignancies including breast, ovarian, and hematologic cancers. His laboratory invented technologies including sequencing strategies to identify locations of DNA strand breaks and generate site specific DNA damage. These methods revealed intricate mechanisms controlling genome stability in both mitotic and post-mitotic cells like neurons which prevent disease. His lecture will describe some of the latest discoveries generated by these innovative approaches.
About the Apex Lecture Series
There are major inflection points in biomedical discovery that create new fields, new ideas, and new opportunities to impact human health. To engage with global researchers contributing to these inflection points, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences launched the Apex Lecture Series in 2023. This school-wide seminar series brings scientists who are influencing the trajectory of their fields to engage with our scientific community on campus.