Geoffrey Margison - Overview

The work of the group is focussed principally on establishing the role of DNA damage and repair in the biological effects of specific genotoxic agents, mainly, but not exclusively, certain types of alkylating agents and ionising radiation. These agents are human carcinogens and they are also used extensively in cancer therapy because of their cytotoxic effects: a basic understanding of their mechanisms of action therefore has potential application in both the prevention and the treatment of cancer. Current projects within the group are in the areas of gene targeting, therapeutic response modification and molecular epidemiology (Povey, 2000).

One of our major basic approaches to defining the importance of specific DNA repair processes in the biological effects of genotoxins involves the generation and characterisation of DNA repair gene-deleted organisms via homologous recombination in embryonic stem cells. This allows us to probe the pathways of DNA damage and repair in model systems.