Philip C. Hanawalt, Ph.D. Stanford University, is a true pioneer in the field of DNA Repair. He and his co-workers have made seminal contributions to the DNA repair field by discovering DNA repair replication, intragenomic DNA repair heterogeneity and transcription-coupled repair. He and his group have also developed a number of important experimental approaches for studying DNA repair, including the BrdUrd density labeling method. The discoveries in Hanawalt's laboratory has had profound implications for the fields of mutagenesis, environmental carcinogenesis, and cancer research. http://www.stanford.edu/~hanawalt/

Junjie Chen, Ph.D., Yale University, is a leader in the field of genomic stability and DNA damage signaling. Genomic instability is a common feature of all human cancers and the maintenance of genomic integrity following DNA damage depends on the coordination of the DNA repair system and cell cycle checkpoint controls. Similar to mitogenic signaling pathways, the DNA damage-induced signaling pathway consists of kinase-dependent signaling cascades that regulate cell cycle progression, DNA repair and apoptosis following DNA damage. Dr. Chen's research group has made many seminal contributions to this field. http://radonc.yale.edu/faculty/j_chen.html

John Tainer, Ph.D., Scripps Research Institute, is a top structure biologist who has solved the structure of many enzymes critical for DNA repair. His laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms and relationships of protein regulators and effectors of DNA damage responses, reactive oxygen species, and pathogenesis. To help understand multi-domain macromolecules with conformational changes and functionally important flexibility in these processes, Dr. Tainer is combining solution methods with high-resolution structures and advanced computation. http://www.scripps.edu/~jat/