Toxicology is the study of how chemicals poison biological systems. In our human toxicology work, we seek to understand how chemicals, particularly environmental pollutants turn normal cells into cancer cells. We focus on damage to DNA, since this type of damage is the most common cause of cancer and we investigate: 1) how chemicals damage DNA; 2) how cells repair that damage; and 3) how the lack of repair leads to cancer.
The DNA structure is a double-stranded helix, which is packed with proteins into structures called chromosomes to allow for cell division. Breaking both strands of DNA creates a lesion that is difficult to repair as genetic information is lost. Altering either the structure or number of chromosomes can lead to cancer. These events are part of a phenomenon called genomic instability. Cancer cells are known to exhibit genomic instability and increasing data indicate that these events may occur early in the formation of cancer.
We study genomic instability by primarily considering two events: DNA double strand breaks and chromosome abnormalities. Because our interest is in human cancer, we focus on effects in human cells though we may use other cellular models as well. We grow these cells in an incubator and study them under controlled experimental conditions. Current human toxicology projects in the Wise Laboratory of Environmental and Genetic Toxicity include:
