Ya Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Division of Experimental Radiation Oncology,
Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson
University HospitalE-mail: ya.wang@mail.tju.edu
Dr. Wang received her M.D. and Ph.D. in China.
My research is focused on understanding how
mammalian cells maintain genome stability following DNA damage by studying
how cells delay cell cycle progression to repair damaged DNA. Following
exposure to genomic stress, proliferating cells actively slow down cell
cycle progression through the activation of checkpoints to provide time for
repair. Two major complementary DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair
pathways exist in mammalian cells, homologous recombination repair (HRR) and
non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). The relationship between checkpoint
activation and these two types of DNA DSBs repair is not clear. My
laboratory has focused our study on clarifying the relationship. Specific
areas of study include the analysis of checkpoint proteins that are
responsible for the different checkpoint activation; identification of their
pathways; explanation of their effects on NHEJ, HRR and cell survival after
DNA DSBs. The results from these studies are expected to elucidate the
relationship between checkpoint and DNA DSBs repair including NHEJ and HRR,
which will contribute to improving radiotherapy and some types of
chemotherapy involving DNA DSBs damage in the near future.
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