Monday, 17 March 2025 4:00pm – 5:00pm

This seminar will be delivered in Chemistry Lecture Theatre 4

Speaker: Marc Greenberg

Host: Dr Constance Bailey

Title: Formation and Consequences of DNA-Protein Cross-Links

Abstract
DNA-protein cross-links (DPCs) are highly toxic lesions formed via a variety of chemical pathways and as intermediates in enzyme transformations. DPCs are potent blocks of helicases, as well as DNA and RNA polymerases. The first protease identified to repair DPCs in human cells (SPRTN) was only identified in the past decade. Consequently, DPC repair is less well understood than that of other types of DNA damage. Our group is developing chemical tools to study DPCs formed by ionizing radiation and alkylating agents extra- and intracellularly.

Bio
Marc Greenberg received his B.S. (Chemistry) from New York University and B.E. (Chemical Engineering) from The Cooper Union School of Engineering in 1982. He carried out undergraduate research with Professor David Schuster at NYU and Dr. Stanley Seltzer at Brookhaven National Laboratory. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1988 under the guidance of Professor Jerome A. Berson, he carried out postdoctoral research as an American Cancer Society fellow with Professor Peter Dervan at the California Institute of Technology. He began his independent career in 1990 at Colorado State University and moved to Johns Hopkins University in 2002 where he is the Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry. His research interests encompass fundamental and applied studies on nucleic acid chemistry and biochemistry.