QBI presents a seminar with Dr. James Haber, Professor of Biology and Director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center at Brandeis University.

Dr. Haber received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. Using yeast as a model organism, Haber and his lab have performed groundbreaking work on how cells repair breaks in the DNA double helix. His research has illuminated the pathways of homologous recombination, non-homologous end-joining, and microhomology-mediated end-joining.

Talk Title: Repairing a Broken Chromosome: How We Learned What We Know

The exploitation of the site-specific HO endonuclease allowed the physical monitoring in real time of the repair of a broken chromosome in budding yeast in 1988.  Since then, with the advent of a variety of molecular biological techniques (PCR, ChIP, rapid DNA sequencing, inducible degrons and more) it has been possible to understand the process of homologous recombination in great detail. This talk offers an appreciation of how new technology has driven new questions, focusing on recent work on the control of end-resection at double-strand breaks, the dynamics of chromosome movement, and the fidelity of DNA synthesis during repair.