A Look Inside the Gurova Lab

Take a look at some of the Gurova lab’s breakthroughs, milestones and presentations.

Laura's thesis paper is published in Oncogene!

Laura showed that during replication stress, when DNA polymerase is stalled and MCM helicase moves forward – creating ssDNA stretch that triggers replication stress response – FACT is needed to keep MCM bound to chromatin. 

In the absence of FACT, MCM detaches from chromatin and the signal to replication stress response vanishes. Without proper coordination of events orchestrated by replication stress response mechanism, cells accumulate DNA damage and die. 

• Prendergast L, Hong E, Safina A, Poe D, Gurova K. Histone chaperone FACT is essential to overcome replication stress in mammalian cells. Oncogene. 2020 Jul;39(28):5124-5137. doi: 10.1038/s41388-020-1346-9. Epub 2020 Jun 12. PMID: 32533099; PMCID: PMC7343669. 

Poorva's second thesis paper is published in iScience!  

Poorva, with the help of other lab members, showed that transformed malignant cells need FACT not for facilitating their high rates of transcription, but for preventing destabilization of chromatin caused by intensive transcription. 

More and more data shows that FACT may be a major sensor and keeper of chromatin stability in mammalian cells. The next step is to determine if it performs the same function in normal cells with high rates of transcription in vivo. 

• Sandlesh P, Safina A, Goswami I, Prendergast L, Rosario S, Gomez EC, Wang J, Gurova KV. Prevention of Chromatin Destabilization by FACT Is Crucial for Malignant Transformation. iScience. 2020 Jun 26;23(6):101177. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101177. Epub 2020 May 18. PMID: 32498018; PMCID: PMC7267732.