Dr Anna Chambers
MBiochem(Oxon.), PhD(Bristol)
Expertise
Researching the interplay between maintenance of genome stability and chromatin
Current positions
Lecturer
School of Biochemistry
Contact
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Biography
During my PhD in Nigel Savery's lab in Bristol, I studied the mechanism of function of the baterial transcription-repair coupling factor, Mfd using both in vivo and in vitro biochemical assays.
My interest in DNA motor proteins linked to repair continued when I moved to the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge for a post doc with Jessica Downs on chromatin remodelling complexes involved in DNA repair. I relocated with the group to the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex and over the course of my post doc studied functions of the RSC/PBAF and INO80 complexes in maintenance of genome stability. This work involved studies in yeast and mammalian cells alongside biochemical analysis of some of the subunits of these remodellers.
I established my lab in the School of Biochemistry in Bristol with the award of a CRUK Career Development Fellowship. The current research focus of my group is understanding the role that the Irc5/HELLS subfamily of chromatin remodellers play in preventing genome instability.
Research interests
In eukaryotes, DNA is packaged into chromatin. The basic unit of chromatin is the nucleosome, formed by the wrapping of DNA around an octamer of histones proteins. In order for efficient DNA repair to occur, manipulation of chromatin structure is necessary. These changes to chromatin organisation include covalent modification of histone proteins, incorporation of histone variants and ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling and defects in these processes can result in genome instability, one of the hallmarks of cancer cells.
The focus of our research group is in understanding the function of chromatin and ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling complexes in maintenance of genome stability. We are complementing investigation of the role of chromatin remodellers in mammalian cells with studies in budding yeast and in vitro, biochemical work, in order to elucidate mechanistic detail of how these complexes protect genome integrity. By gaining a more complete understanding of the function of chromatin remodelling in preventing genome instability, we aim to inform treatment strategies and reveal novel drug targets.
Projects and supervisions
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
27/03/2014BAF180 promotes cohesion and prevents genome instability and aneuploidy
Cell Reports
The BAH domain of Rsc2 is a histone H3 binding domain
Nucleic Acids Research
The INO80 chromatin remodeling complex prevents polyploidy and maintains normal chromatin structure at centromeres
Genes & development
The two different isoforms of the RSC chromatin remodeling complex play distinct roles in DNA damage responses
PLoS ONE
Requirement for PBAF in transcriptional repression and repair at DNA breaks in actively transcribed regions of chromatin
Molecular Cell
Recent publications
05/12/2019The human HELLS chromatin remodelling protein promotes end resection to facilitate homologous recombination and contributes to DSB repair within heterochromatin
Nucleic Acids Research
Architecture of TAF11/TAF13/TBP complex suggests novel regulation properties of general transcription factor TFIID
eLife
Chapter 11 – Variation, Modification, and Reorganization of Broken Chromatin
Chromatin Signaling and Diseases
Fork rotation and DNA pre-catenation is restricted during DNA replication to prevent chromosomal instability
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
BAF180 promotes cohesion and prevents genome instability and aneuploidy
Cell Reports
Thesis
Transcription termination by a transcription-repair coupling factor
Supervisors
Award date
01/01/2005
