James E. Haber received his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. After postdoctoral work at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he joined the Department of Biology at Brandeis University in 1972. He is now the Abraham and Etta Goodman Professor of Biology and Director of the Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center. He has focused his research on genome instability, especially the repair of chromosome double-strand DNA breaks and the role of DNA damage checkpoints. In 2011 he received the Genetics Society of America’s Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Genetics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

I have the opportunity to work closely with Professor Hiroshi Iwasaki and the talented members of his laboratory on questions of how broken chromosomes are repaired by cells. My visits also enable me to come in contact with other Japanese researchers in Tokyo and other major research centers in Japan.

• DNA damage response and repair of a broken chromosome
  National Institute of Genreral Medical Sciences
  (2018-2023)

  The overall goal of NIGMS-funded research in my lab is to describe the molecular and cellular mechanisms by which cells sense the presence of DNA damage and carry our repair of chromosomal double-strand breaks (DSBs). Using budding yeast as a model system, it is possible to induce site-specific DSBs with a high degree of synchrony not yet possible in mammalian cells, allowing “in vivo biochemistry” approaches to monitor intermediate steps in DSB repair and DNA damage signaling. We investigate key questions concerning DSB repair by homologous recombination. We seek to understand what is the basis of the 1000-fold increase in mutations associated with DSB repair and how microhomologies are used in repair-dependent template switching, creating complex chromosome rearrangements analogous to events recently found in human cancers. Finally, we wish to understand how the DNA damage checkpoint and DNA damage-induced autophagy are regulated. These studies will provide new insights and guidance in defining the DSB repair and checkpoint signaling in human cells.
  Jenny Choi
  Danielle Gallagher
  Brenda Lemos
  Kevin Li
  Yuko Nakajima
  Elena Sapede
  Neal Sugawara
  Miyuki Yamaguchi
  David Waterman
  Judy Qiuqin Wu
  Felix Zhou