Maizels, Nancy

We study how DNA mutates and how mutations are repaired, always with the goal of applying basic understanding to developing new tools for diagnosis and therapy of human disease.  We are studying how immunoglobulin genes diversify in activated B cells while minimizing damage to other genes, and how G4 structures contribute to genomic instability and regulation.  We have pioneered the use of DNA nicks as initiation sites for targeted gene correction, and we are currently working out other improvements to make gene correction safer andmore efficient.  We are establishing new diagnostics to better match patients with cancer chemotherapeutcis; and we have developed a new platform to evolve monoclonal antibodies ex vivo.  We employ a variety of approaches, from biochemistry to somatic cell genetics to single-cell imaging — whatever is necessary to answer a particular question.