David Toczyski, PhD

Professor in Residence
Cancer Research Institute
Research Overview: 

The DNA damage response is a critical responder to environmental stress. We are using a combination of candidate approaches and phosphoproteomics to identify targets of the DNA damage response pathway that alter cellular physiology in response to DNA damage. These targets include regulators of origin firing, transcription, mitosis and histone modifications. 

Ubiquitination rivals phosphorylation in its widespread importance in many processes. Degradation, vesicular transport and the DNA damage response are all regulated by ubiquitination. Our lab has a long-standing interest in two ubiquitin ligases, the APC and the SCF. Both have important roles in cell cycle progression, as well as other processes. We have developed methods to identify substrates of these ligases, and are applying these to both yeast and human cells.

Primary Thematic Area: 
Cancer Biology & Cell Signaling
Secondary Thematic Area: 
None
Research Summary: 
Activation of the DNA damage checkpoint

Websites

Publications: 

A comprehensive phenotypic CRISPR-Cas9 screen of the ubiquitin pathway uncovers roles of ubiquitin ligases in mitosis.

Molecular cell

Hundley FV, Sanvisens Delgado N, Marin HC, Carr KL, Tian R, Toczyski DP

Fifty years of cycling.

Molecular biology of the cell

Biggins S, Hartwell L, Toczyski D

Redundant targeting of Isr1 by two CDKs in mitotic cells.

Current genetics

Alme EB, Toczyski DP

The kinase Isr1 negatively regulates hexosamine biosynthesis in S. cerevisiae.

PLoS genetics

Alme EB, Stevenson E, Krogan NJ, Swaney DL, Toczyski DP