Replication stress and cancer

My research career has mainly focused on understanding how cells maintain the stability of their genome, specifically during the process of DNA replication. During the past years, I have made important contributions to the field of replicative stress. These contributions include the discovery of an unexpected role of RNA:DNA hybrids in origin-independent replication initiation within the ribosomal DNA locus (PNAS, 2015), or the finding that the DNA damage tolerance response occurs mostly at processed single-stranded DNA gaps that accumulate behind the replication forks in response to lesions on the DNA template (EMBO J, 2018; NAR, 2018; Mol Cell 2020; NAR 2024; Nature Comms. 2024.).

Recently, I have been awarded with an EMERGIA research grant (Junta de Andalucía), starting on May 2023, to stablish my own line of research on the mechanisms of DNA damage tolerance during replication in human cells, and the relevance of these mechanisms on human diseases such as cancer.

Team Members:

• Néstor García-Rodríguez
  (Project leader)
• Nieves Iria Domínguez-García
  (PhD student)

Previous positions:

• MSCA fellow and assistant professor at Pablo Huertas’ lab, CABIMER, Sevilla, Spain (2018-2022)
• Postdoctoral researcher at Helle Ulrich’s lab, IMB, Mainz, Germany (2013-2018).
• Visiting scientist at Marc Blondel´s lab, Brest University, Brest, France (2012).
• PhD student at Ralf Welinger´s lab, CABIMER, Sevilla, Spain (2007-2012).