Krais Lab

DNA damage response pathways are often altered in cancer and other conditions, and are attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. My laboratory studies how cells navigate a complex signaling environment following a double-strand DNA break (DSB) and ultimately engage one of several repair mechanisms. We are exploring 1) how damage signaling impacts disease progression and therapy responses, and 2) how DSB repair alterations can be exploited to treat cancer. This research is broadly centered on the idea that different genetic backgrounds impart distinct DNA repair requirements which we interrogate using advanced multiplex imaging and genomics techniques in novel mouse and patient-derived samples.