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Professor Noel Lowndes B.A. (Dub), Ph.D. (Glas.)
Contact Details
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Biography:
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Professor Lowndes is an expert on the mechanisms of cell cycle control and the DNA damage-response, a thorough understanding of which will translate into improved cancer diagnosis and therapeutic regimes. In 2001, he was appointed to the Chair of Biochemistry at the National University of Ireland Galway and founded the Genome Stability Laboratory, which focuses on the mechanisms of sensing and responding to DNA damage using yeast and vertebrate cells. More specifically, the two major areas of current focus are the function and regulation of checkpoint mediators (Rad9/53BP1) and PIK kinases, (Mec1/ATR and ATM). Professor Lowndes has played a pivotal role in positioning NUI Galway at the forefront of cancer biology within Ireland. In particular, he has led the development of an internationally recognised and expanding cluster of excellence in cell cycle and genome stability studies and is the founding director of the Centre of Chromosome Biology (http://www.chromosome.ie/). The CCB currently consists of ten laboratory heads who direct over 80 full time researchers engaged in studies related to the function and regulation of checkpoints, centromeres, centrosomes, chromatin, DSB repair, DNA synthesis, nucleoli, trans lesion DNA synthesis and telomeres. Nearly 40 early stage researchers have received training under Professor Lowndes’ mentorship, including 12 completed PhD. Eight PhD students are currently being supervised by Prof Lowndes. |
Research Interests
| Cancer Biology / Cellular responses to DNA damage / Cell cycle control |
Peer Reviewed Journals
| Lowndes NF, Bushel P, Mendelsohn L, Wu J, Yen MY, Allan M. (1990) 'A short, highly repetitive element in intron -1 of the human c-Ha-ras gene acts as a block to transcriptional read-through by a viral promoter'. Mol Cell Biol, 10 :4990-4995. [Details] |
| White JH, Johnson AL, Lowndes NF, Johnston LH. (1991) 'The yeast DNA ligase gene CDC9 is controlled by six orientation specific upstream activating sequences that respond to cellular proliferation but which alone cannot mediate cell cycle regulation'. Nucleic Acids Res, 19 :359-364. [Details] |
| Johnston LH, Lowndes NF, Johnson AL and Sugino A. (1991) 'A cell-cycle-regulated trans-factor, DSC1, controls expression of DNA synthesis genes in yeast'. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol, 56 :169-176. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF, Johnson AL, Johnston LH. (1991) 'Coordination of expression of DNA synthesis genes in budding yeast by a cell-cycle regulated trans factor'. Nature, 350 :247-250. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF, McInerny CJ, Johnson AL, Fantes PA, Johnston LH. (1991) 'Control of DNA synthesis genes in fission yeast by the cell-cycle gene cdc10+'. Nature, 355 :449-453. [Details] |
| Merrill G, Morgan B, Lowndes NF and Johnston LH (1992) 'Periodic transcription during the late G1 phase of the budding yeast cell cycle'. BioEssays, 14 :823-830. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF, Johnson AL, Breeden L and Johnston LH. (1992) 'SWI6 protein is required for transcription of the periodically expressed DNA synthesis genes in budding yeast'. Nature, 357 :505-508. [Details] |
| Johnston LH and Lowndes NF. (1992) 'Cell cycle control of DNA synthesis in budding yeast'. Nucleic Acids Res, 20 (10):2403-2410. [Details] |
| Lowndes, N.F. and Johnston, L.H. (1992) 'Parallel pathways of cell cycle-regulated gene expression'. Trends Genet, 8 :79-81. [Details] |
| Aboussekhra A., Vialard JE, Morrison DE, de la Torre-Ruiz MA, Cernakova, L., Fabre, F and Lowndes, NF (1996) 'The RAD9 checkpoint gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae controls a DNA damage-specific transcriptional response'. EMBO J, 15 :3912-3922. [Details] |
| Vialard JE, Gilbert CS, Green, CM and Lowndes NF. (1998) 'The budding yeast Rad9 checkpoint protein is subjected to Mec1/Tel1-dependent hyperphosphorylation and interacts with Rad53 after DNA damage'. EMBO J, 17 :5679-5688. [Details] |
| Freire R, Murguia JR, Tarsounas M, Lowndes NF, Moens PB and Jackson, SP. (1998) 'Human and mouse homologues of S pombe rad1+ and S cerevisiae RAD17: linkage to checkpoint control and mammalian meiosis'. Genes & Dev, 12 :2560-2573. [Details] |
| (1998) 'c-Ha-ras bidirectional promoter expressed in vitro: location and regulation'. Mol Cell Biol, 9 :3758-3770. [Details] |
| de la Torre-Ruiz, MA, Green CM and Lowndes NF. (1998) 'RAD9 and RAD24 define two additive, interacting branches of the DNA damage checkpoint pathway in budding yeast normally required for Rad53 modification and activation'. EMBO J, 17 :2687-2698. [Details] |
| Soulier J and Lowndes NF. (1999) 'The BRCT domain of the S cerevisiae Rad9 checkpoint protein mediates Rad9/Rad9 interaction after DNA damage'. Curr Biol, 9 :551-554. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF. (1999) 'DNA damage-dependent checkpoints in yeasts and human cells'. Eur J Cancer, 35 :1573-1574. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF and Murguia, JR. (2000) 'Sensing and responding to DNA damage'. Curr Opin Genet & Dev, 10 :17-25. [Details] |
| de la Torre-Ruiz MA and Lowndes NF. (2000) 'The S cerevisiae DNA damage checkpoint is required for efficient repair of double strand breaks by non-homologous end joining'. FEBS Letts, 467 :311-315. [Details] |
| Green CM, Erdjument-Bromage H, Tempst P and Lowndes NF. (2000) 'A Novel Rad24 checkpoint Protein complex closely related to Replication Factor C'. Curr Biol, 10 :39-42. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF (2000) 'A role for Saccharomyces cerevisiae histone H2A in DNA repair'. Nature, 408 :1001-1004. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF (2000) . FEBS Letts, 485 :205-206. [Details] |
| de la Torre-Ruiz MA and Lowndes NF. (2000) 'DUN1 defines one branch downstream of RAD53 for transcription and DNA damage repair in Sacharomyces cerevisiae'. . [Details] |
| Yu S, Teng Y, Lowndes NF and Waters R. (2001) 'Inducible nucleotide excision repair of UV induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae MFA2 gene'. Mutat Res, 485 :229-236. [Details] |
| Downs JA, Lowndes NF and Jackson, SP. (2001) 'DNA-damage signaling and apoptosis'. Genome Biol, 2 :4028-4029. [Details] |
| de la Torre-Ruiz MA, Toh GW-L and Lowndes, NF. (2002) 'Budding yeast as a eukaryotic model for understanding the mechanisms of cellular responses to DNA damage'. Recent Research Developments in DNA repair and Mutagenesis Research Signpost, India, :67-80. [Details] |
| van den Bosch M and Lowndes NF. (2003) 'Remodelling the Rad9 checkpoint complex'. Cell Cycle, 3 :1-4. [Details] |
| van den Bosch M, Bree RT and Lowndes NF. (2003) 'The MRN complex: coordinating and mediating the response to broken chromosomes'. EMBO Reports, 4 :844-849. [Details] |
| Bree R, Neary C, Samali A and Lowndes NF (2004) 'The switch from survival responses to apoptosis after chromosomal breaks'. DNA Repair, 3 :989-995. [Details] |
| Green CM and Lowndes NF (2004) 'Purification and analysis of checkpoint protein complexes from Saccharomyces cerevisiae'. Methods Mol Biol, 280 :291-306. [Details] |
| Toh GW-L and Lowndes NF. (2004) 'DNA Damage Surveillance in Saccharomyces cerevisiae'. Eukaryotic DNA Damage Surveillance and Repair, . [Details] |
| Lowndes NF and Toh GW-L (2005) 'DNA repair: the importance of phosphorylating histone H2AX'. Curr Biol, 15 :99-102. [Details] |
| Costelloe T, Fitzgerald J, Murphy NJ, Flaus, A & Lowndes, NF (2006) 'Chromatin modulation and the DNA damage response'. Exp Cell Res, 312 :2677-2686. [Details] |
| Friedberg EC, Aguilera A, Gellert M, Hanawalt PC, Hays JB, Lehmann AR, Lindahl T, Lowndes N, Sarasin A, Wood RD. (2006) 'DNA repair: from molecular mechanism to human disease'. DNA Repair Amst, 5 . [Details] |
| Toh GW-L, O'Shaughnessy A, Jimeno S, Dobbie I, Grenon M, Maffini S, O' Rorke A and Lowndes, NF (2006) 'Histone H2A phosphorylation and H3 methylation are required for a novel Rad9 DSB repair function following checkpoint activation'. DNA Repair, 5 :693-703. [DOI] [Details] |
| O'Shaughnessy AM, Grenon M, Gilbert C, Toh GW-L, Green CM and Lowndes NF (2006) 'Multiple approaches to study Scerevisiae Rad9, a prototypical checkpoint protein'. Meths Enzym, 409 :131-150. [Details] |
| Rossignol T, Logue ME, Reynolds K, Grenon M, Lowndes NF and Butler G (2007) 'Transcriptional response of Candida parapsilosis following exposure to farnesol'. Antimicrob Agents Chemother, 51 (7):2304-2312. [DOI] [Details] |
| Roche KC and Lowndes NF (2007) 'An investigation into 53BP1 complex formation'. Adv Exp Med Biol, 604 :47-57. [Details] |
| Lowndes NF (2007) 'Chaperoning the Cln3 cyclin prevents promiscuous activation of start'. MOLECULAR CELL, 27 :1-2. [DOI] [Details] |
| Bree RT, Lai XY, Canavan LE, Lowndes NF (2007) 'Comparisons Between DT40 Wildtype and Cre1 cells as suitable model systems for studying the DNA Damage Response'. Cell Cycle, 10 (18). [Details] |
| Braet C, Stephan H, Dobbie IM, Togashi DM, Ryder AG, Foldes-Papp Z, Lowndes N, Nasheuer HP (2007) 'Mobility and distribution of replication protein A in living cells using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy'. Exp Mol Pathol 82 2 :156-62, 82 (2):156-162. [Details] |
| Dobbie IM, Lowndes NF, Sullivan KF (2008) 'Autofluorescent proteins'. Methods Cell Biol, 85 :1-22. [Details] |
| Rupnik A, Grenon M, Lowndes NF (2008) 'Quick Guide: The MRN complex'. Curr Biol, 18 (11):455-457. [Details] |
| Costelloe, T, Lowndes, NF (2010) 'Chromatin assembly and signalling the end of DNA repair requires acetylation of histone H3 on lysine 56'. Sub-cellular Biochemistry, 50 :43-54. [Details] |
| Granata M, Lazzaro F, Novarina D, Panigada D, Puddu F, Abreu CM, Kumar R, Grenon M, Lowndes NF, Pleyani P, Muzi-Falconi M (2010) 'Dynamics of RAD9 chromatin binding and checkpoint function are mediated by its dimerization and are cell cycle-regulated by CDK1 activity'. PLoS Genetics, 6 (8). [DOI] [Details] |
Reviews
| FitzGerald J, Grenon M, Lowndes NF (2009) 53BP1: Function and Mechanisms of Focal Recruitment. Biochemistry Society Transactions. Reviews [Details] |