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Upcoming Seminar

Diverse DNA Repair of Oxidative Nucleobases and Interstrand Crosslinks by DNA Glycosylase NEIL3
Prof. Alyssa Rodriguez, Occidental College

October 14, 2026
4:00pm-5:00pm in HSCI-103

Abstract

Damaged DNA has the potential to lead to genome instability resulting in diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. DNA can become damaged from endogenous sources such as reactive oxygen species or exogenous sources such as interstrand crosslinks (ICLs). DNA glycosylases are DNA repair  enzymes that recognize and cleave small oxidatively damaged DNA nucleobases as the first step in the base excision repair pathway. NEIL3 has also shown a unique function to excise more complex types of  DNA damage including ICLs.

Previously, we have demonstrated the role of the extended C-terminus in NEIL3 including the glycinearginine-phenylalanine (GRF) domain which binds single stranded DNA. The GRF domain has an autoinhibitory role for regulated DNA repair at replication forks. My research program investigates the amino acids necessary for NEIL3 function guided by cancer genomics data. Our research team has identified residue candidates for site-directed mutagenesis and have prepared NEIL3 mutants for glycosylase activity assays. Additionally, we seek to identify other protein binding partners of NEIL3 involved in ICL repair. We are currently purifying potential protein binding candidates of NEIL3 based on predicted structural models and published cell-based assays.

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