Scripps Research Joint Appointments

Faculty, Kellogg School of Science and Technology

Research Focus

Preservation of Genome Integrity; Cellular Responses to Environmental Toxins
Understanding how cells respond to genotoxic and cytotoxic stress is essential for developing new strategies to prevent and treat cancer and many other diseases. We investigate these mechanisms in fission yeast, an experimental organism ideally suited for high throughput genetic screens, proteomic analysis of protein complexes, whole genome expression analysis by microarray, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and live cell imaging of signaling proteins by deconvolution microscopy.

Education

B.S., Biology, University of California, Irvine, 1978
Ph.D., Genetics, University of Washington, 1982

Professional Experience

Postdoctoral
ZymoGenetics, Inc. Seattle, Washington, 1982-1983
University of Sussex, England, 1983-1984, with Sir Paul Nurse
Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) Laboratories, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, England, 1984-1987, with Sir Paul Nurse

Selected References

For a complete list of publications: http://www.scripps.edu/russell/publications.html

Limbo, O., Moiani, D., Kertokalio, A., Wyman, C., Tainer, J.A., Russell, P.  2012. Mre11 ATLD17/18 mutation retains Tel1/ATM activity but blocks DNA double-strand break repair.  Nucleic Acids Research 40:11435-11449.

Guo, L., Ghassemian, M., Komives, E., Russell, P. Cadmium-induced proteome remodeling regulated by Spc1/Sty1 and Zip1 in fission yeast. Toxicol. Sci. in press, 2012.

Langerak, P., Mejia-Ramirez, E., Limbo, O., Russell, P. Release of Ku and MRN from DNA ends by Mre11 nuclease activity and Ctp1 is required for homologous recombination repair of double-strand breaks. PLoS Genet. 7:e1002271, 2011.

Williams, J.S., Williams, R.S., Dovey, C.L., Guenther, G., Tainer, J.A., Russell, P. γH2A binds Brc1 to maintain genome integrity during S-phase. EMBO J. 29:1136-1148, 2010.

Williams, R.S., Dodson, G.E., Limbo, O.L., Yamada, Y., Williams, J.S., Grant, G.,  Classen, S., Glover, J.N. M., Iwasaki, H., Russell, P., Tainer, J.A.T. (2009) Nbs1 flexibly tethers Ctp1 and Mre11-Rad50 to coordinate double-strand break processing and repair. Cell, 139:87-99.

Kennedy, P.J., Vashisht, A.A., Hoe, K.L., Kim, D.U., Park, H.O., Hayles, J., Russell, P. A genome-wide screen of genes involved in cadmium tolerance in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Toxic. Sci. 6:124-139, 2008.

Limbo, O., Chahwan, C., Yamada, Y., de Bruin, R.A.M., Wittenberg, C., Russell, P. (2007) Ctp1 is a cell cycle-regulated protein that functions with Mre11 complex to control double-strand break repair by homologous recombination. Molecular Cell 28:134-146.

Boddy, M. N., Gaillard, P.-H. L., McDonald, W. H., Shanahan, P., Yates, J. R., Russell, P. Mus81-Eme1 are essential components of a Holliday junction resolvase. Cell 107:537-548, 2001.