Laura Niedernhofer, MD, PhD
Professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
Contact Info
Professor, Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics
Faculty, PhD Program in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics
Preceptor, Medical Scientist Training Program (Combined MD/PhD Training Program)
Faculty, MS and PhD Programs in Molecular Pharmacology and Therapeutics (MPaT)
MD, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
PhD, Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
MS, Physiology, Georgetown University School of Medicine
BS, Chemistry, Duke University
Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham
Post-doc, Genetics, Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Summary
Expertise
Aging and age-related diseases, DNA damage, transgenic mouse models, rare genome instability disorders, senescence
Research
Research Summary/Interests
My research career has been dedicated to investigating the impact of DNA damage on the structure of DNA, cell function and organism health. The DNA in each of our cells is damaged thousands of times per day by exposure to environmental factors, dietary components, chemotherapeutic agents and even endogenous by-products of normal metabolism. Studying patients with rare diseases caused by inherited defects in DNA repair provides important insight into the consequences of DNA damage. These patients have a dramatically increased risk of cancer and age prematurely. We engineered mouse models of these genome instability syndromes as a sensitive tool to test hypotheses about how DNA damage promotes cancer and aging.
