Shelley Lusetti, Ph.D.
A.A. Sacramento City College (1994)
B.S. University of California, Santa Barbara (1998)
Ph.D. University of Wisconsin, Madison (2002)
Postdoctoral, University of Wisconsin, Madison (2002-2004)
The cellular genome maintenance processes of DNA replication, recombination, and repair are highly interconnected, sharing multiple pathways and common enzymes. For example, the major pathway for repair of common, but potentially lethal, chromosomal double-stranded DNA breaks (DSBs) is homologous recombination. While integration of replication, repair, and recombination pathways offers an elegant means of regulating cellular DNA metabolism, it also presents an Achilles heel: mutations that inactivate components of recombinational DNA repair pathways lead to gross chromosomal instability that can cause birth defects, cancer, and premature aging. A physical understanding of the function of key enzymes that link genome maintenance processes is thus critical both for elucidating the basic DNA metabolic strategies of cells and for understanding the etiology of several crippling diseases. The broad interest of the lab is to define the cellular processes underlying chromosomal maintenance by studying the enzymes and regulatory mechanisms that control it using biochemical methods.