Faculty

Michael Boddy 
Associate Professor
Department of Molecular Biology
TSRI - 1996

Education 
Ph.D., Imperial Cancer Research Fund/King's College University of London, U.K. 1996.

Awards & Activities 
Scholar of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Research Focus 
DNA Repair and the Maintenance of Genomic Stability

Our laboratory uses the genetically tractable fission yeast as a model system to study proteins involved in the maintenance of genomic stability. Loss of genomic integrity is causally associated with cancer and other diseases. The pathways that we study are highly conserved across species and thus provide a valuable framework for analysis of the analogous human pathways.

Currently we are studying functional interactions between proteins of the DNA repair and replication checkpoint systems. The replication checkpoint senses replication perturbations and coordinates cellular responses such as cell-cycle arrest, replication fork-stabilization and DNA repair. The enforcer of the replication checkpoint is a kinase called Cds1 (Human Chk2). The way in which Cds1 arrests cell-cycle progression when replication is blocked has been worked out in some detail. However, little is known about the targets of Cds1 that are important for replication fork stability and DNA repair. We have identified novel DNA repair factors that are regulated via Cds1-dependent phosphorylation. We are currently determining the precise molecular function(s) of these DNA repair proteins so that we can understand how their regulation by Cds1 mitigates genome damage.

Selected References 
Prudden J, Pebernard S, Raffa G, Slavin DA, Perry JJ, Tainer JA, McGowan CH, Boddy MN. (2007) SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligases in genome stability. EMBO J; 26(18):4089-4101.

Pebernard S, Schaffer L, Campbell D, Head SR, Boddy MN. (2008) Localization of Smc5/6 to centromeres and telomeres requires heterochromatin and SUMO, respectively. EMBO J; 27(22):3011-3023. PMC2585169.

Pebernard S, Perry JJ, Tainer JA, Boddy MN. (2008) Nse1 RING-like domain supports functions of the Smc5-Smc6 holocomplex in genome stability. Mol. Biol. Cell; 19(10):4099-4109. PMC2555936.

Prudden J, Perry JJ, Arvai AS, Tainer JA, Boddy MN. (2009) Molecular mimicry of SUMO promotes DNA repair. Nature Struct Mol Biol; 16(5):509-516. PMC2711901.