Decades-Old Mystery Solved: Scientists Crack the Code of DNA Repair

Researchers from the LMS and LMB have discovered how the D2-I protein complex identifies and repairs DNA damage, a breakthrough that promises to enhance cancer treatments by improving our understanding of DNA repair pathways. This collaboration could pave the way for more effective therapies by targeting the mechanisms that cancer cells use to resist treatment.

A collaboration between researchers at the UK’s two core-funded Medical Research Council Institutes—the Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) in London and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge—has unraveled a decades-old mystery, potentially leading to improved cancer treatments in the future.

The work, which uncovered the basic mechanism of how one of our most vital DNA repair systems recognizes DNA damages and initiates their repair, has eluded researchers for many years. Using cutting-edge imaging techniques to visualize how these DNA repair proteins move on a single molecule of DNA, and electron microscopy to capture how they “lock-on” to specific DNA structures, this research opens the way to more effective cancer treatments.