University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a research-intensive, Russell Group, UK university. It currently hosts more than 14,000 undergraduates and more than 2000 research postgraduates. Its newly established cross-faculty Doctoral College ensures that all students studying for PhDs receive excellent training in a broad range of skills. The University has an International Office to help the ESRs with housing guidance and document support.
In these specific projects, the students will address several questions which relate to the mechanism of transcription-coupled repair in bacterial model organisms. This pathway promotes the preferential repair of bulky DNA lesions positioned on the transcribed strand of DNA, effectively by using RNA polymerase as a DNA damage sensor. They will study the prototypical transcription-coupled repair protein Mfd, including how this pathway is affected by the mismatch repair process. They will also investigate the interaction between RNA polymerase and the UvrD protein, which was recently suggested to be important in an alternative TCR pathway. The necessity for these two alternative DNA motor proteins in the transcription coupled repair of DNA lesions, and the interplay between them are not understood.
Key personnel
Prof.Dr. Nigel Savery
Prof.Dr. Mark Dillingham
Fellows: Gwendolyn Brouwer and Iñigo Urrutia Irazabal.