American cancer researcher and developmental biologist
Maria Jasin (born 1956) is a
developmental biologist at the
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center . She is known for studying
homologous recombination , a method in which
double-strand breaks in
DNA strands are
repaired , and for discovering the role of
BRCA1 and
BRCA2 in
cancers .
Early life, education and career
Jasin was born in 1956 in
Detroit ,
Michigan . Her father was from present-day
Slovakia , while the family of her
Canada -born mother was from today's
Iraq . After her mother died, Jasin's father relocated the family to south
Florida . Jasin and her older sister went to
Florida Atlantic University for undergraduate studies, where she graduated with a
BSc .
[2]
[3]
Jasin received her
PhD in 1984 from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of
Paul Schimmel .
[2] She then went to
Switzerland as a
postdoctoral fellow at the
University of Zurich for a year, and then returned to the
United States as a postdoctoral fellow at
Stanford University until 1990.
[4]
In 1990, Jasin joined the
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and
Cornell University as an
assistant professor and Frederick R. Adler Chair for Junior Faculty (until 1993).
[4]
[5] She was subsequently promoted to
associate professor in 1996 and
full professor and William E. Snee Chair in 2000.
[4]
[5]
Currently, she leads her own research group at the
Developmental Biology Program in MSKCC,
[6] and is affiliated with the
Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences .
[7] Jasin has been an investigator at the
Breast Cancer Research Foundation since 2017.
[8]
Research
Jasin's research focuses on
homologous recombination . She showed in 1994 that expressing a
restriction enzyme that recognizes DNA sequences uncommon in the target
genome , also known as a
rare-cutting restriction enzyme , can generate
DNA
double strand breaks (DSBs) at specific locations, allowing for targeted
genome editing .
[9] Her key study in 1998 found that DNA double strand breaks increases the likelihood of homologous recombination by 1000 folds.
[10]
The next year, in separate reports, Jasin's group discovered that
BRCA1
[11] and
XRCC3
[12] are, respectively, required for and involved in homologous recombination. Then in 2001, Jasin's group reported
BRCA2 is also required for homologous recombination.
[13] Together, these discoveries show how BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations cause
cancers .
[14]
Honors and awards
References
^ Jasin, Maria (1984).
Gene deletions and point mutations which define functional domains in alanine tRNA synthetase (PhD thesis). Retrieved July 13, 2023 .
^
a
b
"Autobiography of Maria Jasin" .
Shaw Prize . p. July 13, 2023. Archived from
the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023 .
^ Sylvestri, Brittany (April 29, 2021).
"FAU Honors 2021 Hall of Fame Inductees along with Distinguished Alumni" .
Florida Atlantic University . Archived from
the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023 .
^
a
b
c
d
"Maria Jasin" . Shaw Prize. Archived from
the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023 .
^
a
b
"Prof. Maria Jasin" (PDF) . NATURA, občianske združenie. Archived from
the original (PDF) on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023 .
^
"The Maria Jasin Lab" .
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center . Archived from
the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023 .
^
"Maria Jasin" .
Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences . Archived from
the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023 .
^
"Maria Jasin, PhD" .
Breast Cancer Research Foundation . Archived from
the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023 .
^ Rouet, Philippe; Smih, Fatima; Jasin, Maria (1994).
"Introduction of Double-Strand Breaks into the Genome of Mouse Cells by Expression of a Rare-Cutting Endonuclease" .
Molecular and Cellular Biology . 14 (12): 8096–8106.
doi :
10.1128/mcb.14.12.8096-8106.1994 .
PMC
359348 .
PMID
7969147 .
^ Richardson, Christine; Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Jasin, Maria (1998).
"Double-strand break repair by interchromosomal recombination: suppression of chromosomal translocations" .
Genes & Development . 12 (24): 3831–3842.
doi :
10.1101/gad.12.24.3831 .
PMC
317271 .
PMID
9869637 .
^ Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Chiu, Joanne W.; Koller, Beverly H.; Jasin, Maria (1999).
"Brca1 Controls Homology-Directed DNA Repair" .
Molecular Cell . 4 (4): 511–518.
doi :
10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80202-6 .
PMID
10549283 .
^ Pierce, Andrew J.; Johnson, Roger D.; Thompson, Larry H.; Jasin, Maria (1999).
"XRCC3 promotes homology-directed repair of DNA damage in mammalian cells" . Genes & Development . 13 (20): 2633–2638.
doi :
10.1101/gad.13.20.2633 .
PMC
317094 .
PMID
10541549 .
^ Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Pierce, Andrew J.; Jasin, Maria (2001).
"BRCA2 Is Required for Homology-Directed Repair of Chromosomal Breaks" . Molecular Cell . 7 (2): 263–272.
doi :
10.1016/s1097-2765(01)00174-5 .
PMID
11239455 .
^ Szewczak, Lara (2017).
"A Conversation with Maria Jasin" .
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology . 82 : 400–402.
doi :
10.1101/sqb.2017.82.035345 .
PMID
29743335 . Archived from
the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023 .
^
"Protecting the Genome by Homologous Recombination" .
Mendel Lectures . Archived from
the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023 .
^
"Maria Jasin" .
National Academy of Sciences . Archived from
the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023 .
^
"Dr. Maria Jasin" .
National Academy of Medicine . Archived from
the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023 .
^
"Maria Jasin" .
American Academy of Arts and Sciences . Archived from
the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023 .
^
"Maria Jasin, PhD" .
American Association for Cancer Research . Archived from
the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023 .
^
"Dr. Maria Jasin" .
American Philosophical Society . Archived from
the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023 .
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