Colin R. Campbell, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology
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Publications
(U of MN affiliated work only)
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Research Interests
Cancer-fighting drugs that exert their action through the
destruction of cellular DNA represent mainstays in the treatment
of this disease. While the development of these drugs has
led to clear progress in our ability to treat cancer, long-term
survival rates still remain unacceptably low. One reason
for this is the emergence following cancer chemotherapy of
drug-resistant tumors. Many of these drug-resistant cancers
have acquired the ability to repair DNA damage caused by
the chemotherapeutic agents. Evidence generated in Dr. Campbell's
laboratory strongly suggests that one mechanism of cancer
cell drug resistance involves elevated levels of recombinational
DNA repair.
The focus of Dr. Campbell's laboratory is to gain a greater
understanding of molecular genetic mechanisms of DNA repair
and recombination in mammalian cancer cells. Their goal is
to identify genes that play important roles in this process,
and to determine how their protein products catalyze DNA
repair in these cells. The long-term objective of their efforts
is to identify targets for future therapeutic intervention,
in order to increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment.
They use gene transfer and cloning strategies, as well as
traditional biochemical approaches to achieve these goals. |
