Audrey Noireterre’s thesis is honoured with the 2023 Arditi and Laemmli Prizes
Audrey Noireterre is awarded both the 2023 Laemmli Prize (ex aequo with Mireia Andreu Carbo from the biochemistry department, previously working in the lab of Charlotte Aumeier) and the 2023 Arditi Prize for her thesis entitled "DNA-protein crosslinks: from detection to repair". Audrey defended her thesis in molecular biosciences in November 2022 and is currently a post-doctoral fellow in the same laboratory, finishing the projects initiated during her thesis.
Amongst the potential genetic alterations, covalent linkages between proteins and DNA are one of the most toxic. These lesions, known as DPCs, must be repaired to prevent genomic instability and cell death. Cells have therefore developed complex mechanisms capable to deal with these deadly threats.
Audrey’s doctoral work in the lab of Françoise Stutz (department of molecular and cellular biology) focused on identifying and characterizing new factors essential for signaling and repairing DPCs, in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
One of her main work centered on investigating the role of the segregase Cdc48 along with its cofactor Ubx5. Although Cdc48 had been previously associated with DNA repair, its particular involvement in DPC repair remained unclear until Audrey showed that Ubx5 and Cdc48 are controlling DPC accessibility on DNA. She also participated in the identification of a new protease called Ddi1, capable of efficiently degrading DPCs. Additionally, her research led to study how the various repair mechanisms and factors are orchestrated within cells.
These results may provide new insights for understanding the resistance associated with chemotherapeutics. It could also help in predicting responses to new therapies and in identifying new tumor biomarkers.
Serbyn, N., A. Noireterre, I. Bagdiul, M. Plank, A. H. Michel, R. Loewith, B. Kornmann and F. Stutz (2020). "The Aspartic Protease Ddi1 Contributes to DNA-Protein Crosslink Repair in Yeast." Mol Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2019.12.007
Serbyn, N., I. Bagdiul*, A. Noireterre*, A. H. Michel, R. T. Suhandynata, H. Zhou, B. Kornmann and F. Stutz (2021). "SUMO orchestrates multiple alternative DNA-protein crosslink repair pathways." Cell Rep. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110034
Noireterre, A., N. Serbyn, I. Bagdiul and F. Stutz (2023). "Ubx5-Cdc48 assists the protease Wss1 at DNA-protein crosslink sites in yeast." EMBO J. DOI: 10.15252/embj.2023113609
Noireterre, A. DNA-Protein Crosslinks: from Detection to Repair”. 2022. DOI: 10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:166736