Dr. Petra Beli has been granted a prestigious EUR 1.5 million Emmy Noether Program award from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to establish a research group at the Institute of Molecular Biology (IMB) at Mainz University. Here she will investigate how cells respond to DNA damage and maintain genome stability. These processes are vital to prevent premature ageing and diseases such as cancer.
The human genome is constantly damaged by exposure to environmental factors such as sunlight and various chemicals. As a failure to repair this damage can lead to a range of diseases, cells have a number of molecular mechanisms in place to repair damaged DNA. Dr. Petra Beli has been granted a prestigious Emmy Noether Program award from the German Research Foundation (DFG) to study the cellular response to DNA damage. She will employ quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics to investigate how histones and other chromatin-associated proteins are modified by ubiquitin during the process of DNA repair.
Before joining the Institute of Molecular Biology in Mainz, Dr. Beli worked in the group of Prof. Chunaram Choudhary at the Novo Nordisk Foundation's Center for Protein Research in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here she developed novel mass spectrometric methods that gave important insights into the scope and dynamics of protein phosphorylation and ubiquitylation during DNA damage signaling.
The Emmy Noether Program supports outstanding young researchers, who have worked abroad, in establishing independent research groups at an early stage in their scientific career. The highly prestigious award will support Dr. Beli's research activities for the next five years.
'/>"/>
Contact: Dr. Ralf Dahm press@imb-mainz.de 49-613-139-21450 Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz Source:Eurekalert |