Introduction:

Cancer is a complex disease associated with genetic and epigenetic alterations in the genome. To prevent these detrimental alterations, cells have evolved an intricate signaling network, called the checkpoint, to detect and signal problems in the genome. During cancer development, the activation of oncogenes and loss of tumor suppressors leads to genomic instability, rendering cancer cells addicted to specific checkpoint signaling proteins to survive. The Zou laboratory is particularly interested in understanding how the checkpoint detects DNA damage and genomic instability, and how the checkpoint can be targeted in cancer therapy. Our current studies are focused on the activation of ATR and ATM, the master sensor kinases of two major checkpoint pathways. Furthermore, we are developing new strategies to exploit the genomic instability and checkpoint addiction of different cancer cells in targeted cancer therapy.

Written by: Zhang Jiang

Source: PKU Lecture Hall