Title:

Associate Professor

Coker Life Sciences Building
Room

Education
Ph.D. The University of Iowa, 1996
Postdoctoral Fellow, The Jackson Laboratory, 1996-1999

Description of Research Program

Research in our laboratory focuses on the maintenance of chromosome stability by homologous recombination (HR) DNA repair mechanisms. Accumulation of chromosome rearrangements is often observed during cancer progression, and using the laboratory mouse as a model system, we are studying mutations in HR genes. We have generated a knockout in a gene named RAD51D and established RAD51D-deficient cell lines. Using these research tools, we have demonstrated that RAD51D is required for embryo development and involved in maintaining both chromosome and telomere integrity. Additionally, the RAD51D-deficient cells are very sensitive to DNA damaging agents, which include the chemotherapeutic alkylating agents mitomycin C, Cisplatin and methyl-methane sulfonate. Both genetic and biochemical studies are currently underway to investigate the molecular basis of RAD51D functions in maintaining chromosome stability and repairing DNA damage.

Selected Publications
Wyatt, M.D. and D.L. Pittman, Methylating agents and DNA repair responses: methylated bases and sources of strand breaks. Chemical Research in Toxicology 19: 1580-1594, 2006. Review (Cover Feature)

Rajesh C. and D.L. Pittman, Cell Cycle Regulation in Mammalian Germ Cells. In: Cell Cycle Control in Series Results and Problems in Cell Differentiation. 42:343-367, 2006. Review

Gruver, A.M., Miller, K.A., Rajesh, C., Smiraldo, P.G., Kaliyaperumal, S., Balder, R., Stiles, K.M., Albala, J.S., and D.L. Pittman. The ATPase Motif in RAD51D is Required for Resistance to DNA Interstrand Crosslinking Agents and Interaction With RAD51C. Mutagenesis; 20(6):433-440, 2005.

Smiraldo, P.G., Gruver, A.M., Osborn, J.C. and D.L. Pittman. Extensive Chromosomal Instability in Rad51d-Deficient Mouse Cells. Cancer Research 65:(6) 2089-2096, 2005. (Featured Article)

Smiraldo P.G. Telomerase: A Mystery by Name Alone. IUBMB Life 56(9):573-574, 2004. (Invited Commentary authored by one of our Ph.D. Graduate Students)

Tarsounas M., Munoz, P., Claas A., Smiraldo P.G., Pittman D.L., Blasco, M.A. and S.C. West. Telomere Maintenance Requires the RAD51D Recombination/Repair Protein. Cell 117(3):337-347, 2004. (Highlighted Article)