Professor Thanos D. Halazonetis
Full Professor
Department of biochemistry
University of Geneva - Sciences II
30, quai Ernest-Ansermet
CH-1211 Geneva 4
tel. +41(0)22 3796112 (direct)
tel. +41(0)22 3796194 (secretary's office)
fax +41(0)22 376868
office 3031 (3rd floor; Sciences III)
SHORT RÉSUMÉ
RESEARCH INTEREST
THE 5 KEY REFERENCES OF PROFESSOR HALAZONETIS
SHORT RÉSUMÉ
Professor Thanos Halazonetis received a PhD in genetics from Harvard University in 1989. After a post-doc at the Harvard University Medical School, he worked 3 years as a research fellow at Merck Sharp and Dohme. He became Assistant Professor in 1993, Associate Professor in 2000, then Professor in 2004 at the Wistar Institute, University of Pennsylvania. He moved to the University of Geneva in 2006, as Professor in the Departments of biochemistry (School of chemistry and biochemistry) and molecular biology (School of biology).
RESEARCH INTEREST
The long-term goal of our research is to understand cancer at the molecular level and then use this knowledge to develop novel cancer therapies. This is a very ambitious goal. Yet, because it is shared by many laboratories world-wide, there is considerable progress and hope for new effective therapies in the coming decades.
Specific projects pursued in the laboratory address the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to DNA damage and problems with DNA replication. These mechanisms are referred to as DNA damage and DNA replication checkpoint pathways.
We also study these checkpoint pathways in actual human precancerous and cancerous lesions.
THE 5 KEY REFERENCES OF PROFESSOR HALAZONETIS
J. Bartkova, N. Rezaei, M. Liontos, P. Karakaidos, D. Kletsas, N. Issaeva, L.-V.F. Vassiliou, E. Kolettas, K. Niforou, V.C. Zoumpourlis, M. Takaoka, H. Nakagawa, F. Tort, K. Fugger, F. Johansson, M. Sehested, C.L. Andersen, L. Dyrskjot, T. Orntoft, J. Lukas, C. Kittas, T. Helleday, T.D. Halazonetis, J. Bartek and V.G. Gorgoulis (2006).
Oncogene-Induced Senescence is an Integral Part of the Tumorigenesis Barrier Imposed by DNA Damage Checkpoints.
Nature, in press.
J. Lukas, V.A. Bohr and T.D. Halazonetis (2006).
Cellular Response to DNA damage: Current State of the Field and Review of the 52nd Benzon Symposium.
V.G. Gorgoulis, L.V. Vassiliou, P. Karakaidos, P. Zacharatos, A. Kotsinas, T. Liloglou, M. Venera, R.A. Ditullio Jr, N.G. Kastrinakis, B. Levy, D. Kletsas, A. Yoneta, M. Herlyn, C. Kittas and T.D. Halazonetis (2005).
Activation of the DNA Damage Checkpoint and Genomic Instability in Human Precancerous Lesions.
Y. Huyen, O. Zgheib, R.A. Ditullio Jr, V.G. Gorgoulis, P. Zacharatos, T.J. Petty, E.A. Sheston, H.S. Mellert, E.S. Stavridi and T.D. Halazonetis (2004).
Methylated Lysine 79 of Histone H3 Targets 53BP1 to DNA Double-Strand Breaks.
Y. Huyen, P.D. Jeffrey, W.B. Derry, J.H. Rothman, N.P. Pavletich, E.S. Stavridi and T.D. Halazonetis (2004).
Structural Differences in the DNA Binding Domains of Human P53 and its C. Elegans Ortholog Cep-1.