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Pawel Jaruga (Fed)
Current research:
My field of study includes the mechanisms of oxidative stress, DNA damage and actions of DNA repair enzymes. Oxidative stress is produced in cells by oxygen-derived species including free radicals that result from cellular metabolism and from interaction with living cells of carcinogenic compounds, redox-cycling drugs and ionizing radiations. Free radicals cause DNA damage and are associated with numerous diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and age-related diseases. My work includes the development of methodologies for the measurement of DNA damage and its repair in living cells with the goal of understanding the role of DNA damage and its repair in disease processes. The main measurement techniques we use for this purpose are gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. We measure DNA damage and its repair in living human and animal tissues depending on disease state and treatment with DNA-damaging agents.
Scientific honors and awards:
1994 - Award of Oncological Foundation of Bydgoszcz, Poland for the best Ph.D. thesis in the field of oncology.
1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 & 2002 - Polish Secretary of Health Award for Scientific Achievement.
Recent Publications:
Seiple, L., Jaruga, P., Dizdaroglu,M. and Stivers, J.T. "Linking uracil base excision repair and 5-fluorouracil toxicity in yeast" Nucleic Acids Res. 34: 140-151 (2006).
Malins, D.C., Anderson, K.M., Stegeman, J.J., Jaruga, P., Green, V.M., Gilman, N.K. and Dizdaroglu, M. "Biomarkers Signal Contaminant Effects of English Sole (Parophrys vetulus) from Puget Sound" Environm. Health Persp. 114: 823-829 (2006).
D'Errico, M., Parlanti, E., Teson, M., Bernardes de Jesus, B.M., Degan, P., Calcagnile, A., Jaruga, P., Bjoras, M., Crescenzi, M., Pedrini, A.M., Egly, J-M., Zambruno, G., Stefanini, M., Dizdaroglu, M. and Dogliotti, E. "New functions of XPC in the protection of human skin cells from oxidative damage", EMBO J. 20: 4305-15 (2006).
Malins, D.C., Anderson, K.M., Jaruga, P., Ramsey, C.R., Gilman, N.K., Green, V.M., Rostad, S.W., Emerman, J.T., and Dizdaroglu, M. "Oxidative Changes in the DNA of Stroma and Epithelium from the Female Breast. Potential Implications for Breast Cancer" Cell Cycl. 5: 1629-1632 (2006).
Datta, K, Jaruga, P., Dizdaroglu, M., Neumann, R.D., and Winters, T.A. " Molecular analysis of base damage clustering associated with a site-specific radiation-induced DNA double-strand break." Radiat Res.166:767-781 (2006).
Nyaga, S.G., Lohani, A., Jaruga, P., Trzeciak, A.R., Dizdaroglu, M., and Evans, M.K. „Reduced repair of 8 hydroxyguanine in the human breast cancer cell line HCC1937." BMC Cancer, 6:297- 312 (2006).
D'Errico, M., Parlanti, E., Teson, M., Degan, P., Lemma, T., Calcagnile, A., Iavarone, I., Jaruga, P., Ropolo, M., Pedrini, A.M., Orioli, D., Frosina, G., Zambruno, G., Dizdaroglu, M., Stefanini, M., and Dogliotti, E. „The role of CSA in the response to oxidative DNA damage in human cells" Oncogene 28;26(30):4336-43 (2007).
Rodriguez, H., Jaruga, P., Leber, D., Nyaga, S.G., Evans, M.K., and Dizdaroglu, M. „Lymphoblasts of Women with BRCA1 Mutations Are Deficient in Cellular Repair of 8,5'-Cyclopurine-2'-deoxynucleosides and 8-hydroxy-2'-doxyguanosine". Biochemistry, 46:2488-2496 (2007).
Roy, L.M., Jaruga, P., Wood, T.G., McCullough, A.K., Dizdaroglu, M. and Lloyd, R.S. „Human polymorphic variants of the NEIL1 DNA glycosylase". J. Biol. Chem. 282:15790-15798 (2007).
Nyaga, S.G., Jaruga, P., Lohani, A., Dizdaroglu, M. and Evans, M.K. „ Accumulation of Oxidatively Induced DNA Damage in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines Following Treatment with Hydrogen Peroxide." Cell Cycle, 6: 1472-1478 (2007).
Kirkali, G., Tunca, M., Genc, S., Jaruga, P., and Dizdaroglu, M. "Oxidative DNA damage in polymorphonuclear leukocytes of patients with familial Mediterranean fever" Free Radic. Biol. Med., 44: 386-393 (2008).
Jaruga P. and Dizdaroglu M., "8,5'-Cyclopurine-2'-deoxynucleosides in DNA: Mechanisms of formation, measurement, repair and biological effects." DNA Repair, 7: 1413-1425 (2008).
Jaruga P., Kirkali G., Dizdaroglu, M. "Measurement of formamidopyrimidines in DNA" Free Radic. Biol. Med., 45: 1601-1609 (2008).
Dizdaroglu, M., Kirkali, G., and Jaruga, P. "Formamidopyrimidines in DNA: Mechanisms of formation, repair, and biological effects", Free Radic. Biol. Med., 45: 1610-1621 (2008).
Kirkali, G., de Souza-Pinto, N.C., Jaruga, P., Bohr, V.A., Dizdaroglu, M. " Accumulation of (5'S)-8,5'-cyclo-2'-deoxyadenosine in organs of Cockayne syndrome complementation group B gene knockout mice" DNA Repair, 8: 274–278 (2009).
Kish, A., Kirkali, G., Robinson, C., Rosenblatt, R., Jaruga, P., Dizdaroglu, M.,and DiRuggiero, J. "Salt Shield: Intracellular Salts Provide Cellular Protection against Ionizing Radiation in the Halophilic Archaeon, Halobacterium sp. str. NRC-1" Environmental Microbiology and Environmental Microbiology Reports (in press).
Scott D. Kathe, S.D., Barrantes-Reynolds, R., Jaruga, P., Newton, M.R., Burrows, C.J., Bandaru, V., Dizdaroglu, M., Bond, J.P., and Wallace, S.S. " Plant and fungal Fpg homologs are formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylases but not 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylases" DNA repair (, in press).
Ocampo-Hafalla, M.T., Chan, M.K., Wei, J-J, Vartanian, V., Lloyd, R.S., Jaruga, P. Kirkali, G., Dizdaroglu, M., and Teebor, G.W. "Targeted Deletion of the Genes Encoding NTH1 and NEIL1 DNA N-Glycosylases Reveals the Existence of Novel Carcinogenic Oxidative Damage to DNA" DNA Repair, (in press).