Prof Kum Kum Khanna, Heads the Signal Transduction Laboratory at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research. She is NHMRC Senior Principal Research Fellow. She has published >150 peer-reviewed papers. She is best known for her work in understanding of the signal transduction pathways involved in the detection, signalling, or repair of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and their link with cancer initiation and progression.
Talk will summarize our current understanding of how cells respond to DNA damage. She will then discuss comprehensive analysis of newly discovered DNA repair proteins (SSb1 and SSb2). Loss of each protein singly in adult mice has no phenotype due to compensatory upregulation of the other, however when both genes are deleted mice die with 8 days of knockdown due to bone marrow failure and intestinal atrophy. The double knockout model parallels the consequences of radiation damage on blood and gut system. Toxicity to these systems from radiation and other chemotherapeutic agents is a significant hindrance in delivering anti-cancer therapies. She will discuss possible mechanisms by which these proteins protect rapidly proliferating normal tissues from endogenous damage. This work has implications concerning the molecular regulation of protection of stem cells from DNA damage. As a part of NHMRC funded Program Grant she is also interested in targeting the Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), the subtype with the poorest prognosis. Her work aims to provide novel insights by dissecting the molecular mechanisms that regulate tumor progression and help with the discovery of new effective therapeutic approaches.