cathy.s.hass@gmail.com
Mentor: Marc Wold, Ph.D.
Lab Room: 3156 MERF
Lab Phone: 319-335-7851

The Role of RPA1 in DNA Damage Response

Replication Protein A (RPA) is a single-strand DNA binding protein essential for DNA replication, repair, and recombination. The RPA1 gene encodes the 70-kDa subunit of RPA and contains the high-affinity DNA-binding domain of the complex. Recent studies in the Wold lab have identified a novel activity of RPA1 in the cellular DNA damage response (Haring et al JBC 2008, 283, 19095). The focus of my thesis work is to investigate the role of RPA1 in DNA damage response using in vivo and in vitro analysis of aromatic residue mutants to determine which specific sites are involved and to define the biochemical properties responsible for the in vivo phenotype. These studies will help elucidate the multiple functions of RPA in the cell, potentially leading to new therapeutic treatments for diseases associated with abnormal DNA metabolism such as cancer.

Publications:

Hass CS, Lam K, Wold MS. Repair-specific functions of replication protein A. Submitted to JBC, 2011.

Hass CS, Chen R, Wold MS. Detecting post-translational modificiations of replication protein A. Methods in Molecular Biology. Book chapter, in press, 2011.

Hass CS, Gakhar L, Wold MS. Functional characterization of a cancer causing mutation in human replication protein A. Mol Cancer Res. 2010 Jul;8(7):1017-26. Epub 2010 Jun 29. PubMed PMID: 20587534; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2905489.

Mason AC, Haring SJ, Pryor JM, Staloch CA, Gan TF, Wold MS. An alternative form of replication protein a prevents viral replication in vitro. J Biol Chem. 2009 Feb 20;284(8):5324-31. Epub 2008 Dec 29. PubMed PMID: 19116208; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2643524.

Abstracts:

Staloch CA, Haring SJ, Wold MS. Functions of Replication Protein A in DNA repair and checkpoint activation. Cold Spring Harbor Eukaryotic DNA Replication & Genome Maintenance. 2009 Sept 1-5.