Dr
Gisela Taucher-Scholz
(GSI Biophysics, Darmstadt, Germany)
Double-strand breaks (DBSs) are critical lesions and their spatial distribution is crucial regarding repair capability and biological effects. Ion irradiation leads to streaks of spatially localized damaged chromatin domains across cell nuclei revealed by repair protein immunostaining. Efficient repair after carbon ion irradiation is indicated by loss of the DSB marker H2AX, but repair is less pronounced with increasing ionizing density. Repair impairment after exposure to stopping carbon ions is the basis of the enhanced biological efficiency of heavy ion therapy.
To study the effect of localized dose deposition on the early damage response, the recruitment of GFP-tagged repair proteins to ion-induced DSBs was monitored by live cell microscopy at the beam end. Recruitment times from seconds up to minutes were observed depending on the protein. The motional activity of DSBs was also analyzed in living cells up to 12 hours post irradiation. Superimposed to the fast Brownian motion, a slow mobility of damaged domains (mean square displacement about 0.6 µm²/h), most likely driven by normal chromatin diffusion, was observed independent of the radiation type. A (transient) formation of repair clusters could occasionally be observed, but long range displacements of DSBs did not generally occur. In conclusion, damaged chromatin shows a restricted mobility independent of lesion density and irradiation, supporting the notion that the spatial proximity of DNA breaks is required for the formation of radiation-induced chromosomal exchanges. Importantly, the processing of ion-induced DSBs is not coupled to an increased mobility enhancing the probability of translocations or cancer risk. These results offer important clues toward understanding the repair of multiple damage sites.
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Curriculum vitae
1972-1978 Diploma: Biochemistry (M.Sc.), University of Chile, Santiago
1978-1982 Ph.D. Max Planck Institute for Medical Research/University of Heidelberg (summa cum laude)
1982-1983 Post-doc, MPI for Medical Research, Heidelberg
1986-1987 Visiting scientist, Dept. of Virology, University of Chile
1988-1990 Research Associate, Biophysics GSI
1991-1998 Staff Scientist, Biophysics GSI
since 1999 Senior Scientist, Biophysics GSI
Head of the DNA Damage Research Group, GSI
Scientific Activities and Honors
since 2007 Executive Member Committee of the National Competence Network for Radiation Research
Elected ICRR council member
since 2007 Member of Radiation Research Society (USA)
since1999 Member DNA Repair Network
Member German Society for Radiation Biology Research
1976 Faculty of Science Award (University of Chile)
Coordinator:
BMBF project 02S8355 "Molecular and cellular effects of densely ionizing radiation" Darmstadt Competence Center for Radiation Research (co-coordinator, start 2006)
BMBF project 03NUK001A "Interaction of Repair Pathways: Repair Factor Dynamics at Localilzed Lesions", Radiation Research Competence Network, coordinator, start 2008
Publications (peer reviewed): around 50 in the field of radiation research
Current Research Fields
• Heavy ion-related molecular radiation biology
• DNA damage repair in the context of chromatin
• Live cell imaging of repair and signalling pr
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Dr
Gisela Taucher-Scholz
(GSI Biophysics, Darmstadt, Germany)
Mrs
Barbara Meyer
(GSI Biophysics)
Dr
Burkhard Jakob
(GSI Biophysics)
Dr
Francesco Natale
(GSI Biophysics)
Mr
Frank Tobias
(GSI Biophysics)
Mr
Jörn Splinter
(GSI Biophysics)
Prof.
Marco Durante
(GSI Biophysics and TU Darmstadt, Inst. für Festkörperphysik, Darmstadt, Germany)
Dr
Nicole Averbeck
(GSI Biophysics)
