Kyle Miller
Emory University, GA·Biochemistry
Cells face constant damage to their DNA, and unrepaired damage causes mutations that can drive cancer. DNA in the cell nucleus is wrapped around histone proteins, forming chromatin.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
DNA damage response
DNA repair
genome integrity
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Mar 2028
What they work on
- Determine how the histone variant macroH2A works with PARP1, a DNA break-sensing enzyme, and KDM5A, a histone-modifying enzyme, to coordinate DNA repair, using biochemical and cell-based systems in human cells.
- Test whether PARP inhibitors (PARPi), cancer drugs that block PARP1, interfere with KDM5A function and alter cell responses to radiation and drug treatment.
- Identify helper (effector) proteins that support macroH2A and KDM5A at DNA breaks, including in gene control and homologous recombination repair.
- Define the specific protein interactions, domains and modifications required for these pathways, using cell complementation in cancer and non-transformed human cell lines.
More about the research
Special versions of histones, called histone variants, change how chromatin behaves. These variants are best known for controlling which genes switch on, but they are emerging as key players in repairing DNA. How they help, and whether cancers that lack them can be targeted, is not well understood.
Why it matters
Many cancers have faulty DNA repair or altered histone variants. Defining how macroH2A, PARP1 and KDM5A protect the genome could show when tumors respond to radiation therapy or PARP inhibitor drugs. That could reveal new treatment opportunities for cancers in which this pathway is disrupted.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Joshua Heyza
Wayne State University, MI·Biochemistry·Early-career
Determine what the intrinsically disordered PST repeat domain of MDC1 binds on chromatin and how phosphorylation regulates that tether, using molecular, biochemical and biophysical approaches together with live-cell single-molecule imaging.
Zhiyuan Shen
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Biochemistry
Reveal how chromatin context, shaped by methylation, sumoylation and ubiquitination tags, controls the recruitment and function of the BRCA1-PALB2-BRCA2 repair complex and regulators such as 53BP1, RNF4 and BARD1.
Deyu Li
University of Rhode Island, RI·Biochemistry
Define how the 5′ and 3′ neighboring bases around an etheno lesion affect repair by base excision repair and direct reversal repair enzymes, using unpackaged DNA oligomers (short synthetic DNA strands).
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
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