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Medicine

Dr Helen Dodson

B.Sc., Ph.D

Contact Details

LECTURER ABOVE THE BAR
Anatomy
Human Biology Building
Central Campus
T: Ext. 2162
E: helen.dodson@nuigalway.ie

Biography

I joined the Discipline of Anatomy as a lecturer in December 2011. I obtained my PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh in 2003. My doctoral research, which was carried out in the Laboratory of Professor Bill Earnshaw focused on cell division and in particular the spindle assembly checkpoint which ensures accurate segregation of chromosomes at mitosis. Following a short period as a postdoc in Edinburgh I moved to Galway to work with Professor Ciaran Morrison where my research focused on cellular responses to DNA damage and in particular the phenomena of DNA damage induced centrosome amplification and mitotic catastrophe. Most recently I have been working with Dr Andrew Flaus investigating the expression, distribution and abundance of the histone variant H2AX in human cells. In addition to this I am interested in the development of tools for live cell imaging of cells following DNA damage. My ongoing research is being carried out in collaboration with colleagues in the Centre for Chromosome Biology and the Centre for Microscopy and Imaging at NUIG.

Research Interests

I am interested in how cells respond to DNA damage. Most recently my work has focused on the histone variant H2AX which is phosphorylated in response to DNA damage. Understanding the distribution and abundance of H2AX in various cell types will be important in fully understanding the signaling mechanisms involved in the DNA damage response. In particular I am interested in the expression and abundance of H2AX in cancer cells and am developing assays to address these questions in cultured cells and cancer biobank samples.

I am also interested in developing technologies for studying the DNA damage response in real time using live cell imaging.

Peer Reviewed Journals

	Year	Publication
	(2011)	'Roles of Vertebrate Smc5 in Sister Chromatid Cohesion and Homologous Recombinational Repair' Stephan, AK;Kliszczak, M;Dodson, H;Cooley, C;Morrison, CG (2011) 'Roles of Vertebrate Smc5 in Sister Chromatid Cohesion and Homologous Recombinational Repair'. Molecular And Cellular Biology, 31 :1369-1381 [DOI] [Details]
	(2010)	'A Centrosome-autonomous Signal That Involves Centriole Disengagement Permits Centrosome Duplication in G2 Phase after DNA Damage' Inanc, B;Dodson, H;Morrison, CG (2010) 'A Centrosome-autonomous Signal That Involves Centriole Disengagement Permits Centrosome Duplication in G2 Phase after DNA Damage'. Molecular Biology Of The Cell, 21 :3866-3877 [DOI] [Details]
	(2009)	'Increased sister chromatid cohesion and DNA damage response factor localization at an enzyme-induced DNA double-strand break in vertebrate cells' Dodson, H;Morrison, CG (2009) 'Increased sister chromatid cohesion and DNA damage response factor localization at an enzyme-induced DNA double-strand break in vertebrate cells'. Nucleic Acids Research, 37 :6054-6063 [DOI] [Details]
	(2007)	'Involvement of centrosome amplification in radiation-induced mitotic catastrophe' Dodson, H;Wheatley, SP;Morrison, CG (2007) 'Involvement of centrosome amplification in radiation-induced mitotic catastrophe'. Cell Cycle, 6 :364-370 [Details]
	(2007)	'DNA damage induces Chk1-dependent centrosome amplification' Bourke, E;Dodson, H;Merdes, A;Cuffe, L;Zachos, G;Walker, M;Gillespie, D;Morrison, CG (2007) 'DNA damage induces Chk1-dependent centrosome amplification'. Embo Reports, 8 :603-609 [DOI] [Details]
	(2006)	'Synthesis of novel caspase inhibitors for characterization of the active caspase proteome in vitro and in vivo' Henzing AJ, Dodson H, Reid JM, Kaufmann SH, Baxter RL, Earnshaw WC (2006) 'Synthesis of novel caspase inhibitors for characterization of the active caspase proteome in vitro and in vivo'. Journal Of Medicinal Chemistry, 49 (26):7636-7645 [Details]
	(2004)	'Centrosome amplification induced by DNA damage occurs during a prolonged G2 phase and involves ATM' Dodson, H;Bourke, E;Jeffers, LJ;Vagnarelli, P;Sonoda, E;Takeda, S;Earnshaw, WC;Merdes, A;Morrison, C (2004) 'Centrosome amplification induced by DNA damage occurs during a prolonged G2 phase and involves ATM'. Embo Journal, 23 :3864-3873 [DOI] [Details]
	(2004)	'Analysis of Scc1-deficient cells defines a key metaphase role of vertebrate cohesin in linking sister kinetochores' Vagnarelli, P,Morrison, C,Dodson, H,Sonoda, E,Takeda, S,Earnshaw, WC (2004) 'Analysis of Scc1-deficient cells defines a key metaphase role of vertebrate cohesin in linking sister kinetochores'. Embo Reports, 5 :167-171 [DOI] [Details]
	(2004)	'Aurora-B phosphorylation in vitro identifies a residue of survivin that is essential for its localization and binding to inner centromere protein (INCENP) in vivo' Wheatley SP, Henzing AJ, Dodson H, Khaled W, Earnshaw WC (2004) 'Aurora-B phosphorylation in vitro identifies a residue of survivin that is essential for its localization and binding to inner centromere protein (INCENP) in vivo'. Journal Of Biological Chemistry, 279 (7):5655-5660 [DOI] [Details]
	(2002)	'Proteomic analysis of human metaphase chromosomes reveals topoisomerase II alpha as an Aurora B substrate' Morrison, C;Henzing, AJ;Jensen, ON;Osheroff, N;Dodson, H;Kandels-Lewis, SE;Adams, RR;Earnshaw, WC (2002) 'Proteomic analysis of human metaphase chromosomes reveals topoisomerase II alpha as an Aurora B substrate'. Nucleic Acids Research, 30 :5318-5327 [Details]
	(2002)	'CENP-I is essential for centromere function in vertebrate cells' Nishihashi A, Haraguchi T, Hiraoka Y, Ikemura T, Regnier V, Dodson H, Earnshaw WC, Fukagawa T (2002) 'CENP-I is essential for centromere function in vertebrate cells'. Cell, 2 (4):463-476 [Details]

Conference Contributions

	Year	Publication
	(2018)	Design for Learning. Teaching and Learning Spaces in Higher Education, Helen Dodson (2018) 16th Annual Galway Symposium on Higher Education. [Oral Presentation], Design for Learning. Teaching and Learning Spaces in Higher Education, NUIG , 15-JUN-18 - 15-AUG-18. [Details]
	(2014)	British Society for Cell Biology Spring meeting 2014, Dodson H, Eykelenboom J, Pinto D, Doran J and Flaus A (2014) BSCB Spring 2014. [Conference Paper], British Society for Cell Biology Spring meeting 2014, Warwick , 16-MAR-14 - 19-MAR-14. [Details]

Honours and Awards

	Year	Title	Awarding Body
	2017	President's Award for Teaching Excellence	NUIG

Professional Associations

Association	Function	From / To
European Association for Cancer Research	Member	/
Microscopy Society of Ireland	Member	/
Anatomical Society	Member	/
British Society for Cell Biology	member	/
Irish Association for Cancer Research	member	/

Education

Year	Institution	Qualification	Subject
2014	National University of Ireland Galway	Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning	Pedagogy
2018	National University of Ireland Galway	Postgraduate Diploma in Academic Practice	Academic Practice
2003	University of Edinburgh	PhD	Cell and Molecular Biology
1998	University of Edinburgh	BSc	Molecular Biology