Summary
Dr Porter became an honorary Lecturer in 1994 when he joined the MRC Clinical Sciences Centre (which subsequently became part of the Imperial College Faculty of Medicine), after moving from the Biochemistry Department at Oxford University where he held a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. He became an honorary Reader in 2001 and joined the Centre for Haematology in 2004.
Research interests: The use of homologous recombination to engineer defined changes into the genome (gene targeting) is a fascinating research area, not only because of its importance as a genetic reseach tool and promising mode of gene therapy, but also because of the underlying cellular mechanisms for repairing DNA double strand breaks. These mechanisms are far from being properly understood and progress in this area is important if gene targeting is to be fully exploited. Conversely, studying the factors that influence the efficiency and accuracy of gene targeting can add to our understanding of cellular DNA repair. While gene targeting has become widely used in mouse genetics during the last 20 years, its use in human cells, whether for the study of cell biology or for the correction of disease-causing mutations, has been far more restricted, mainly because of efficiency problems. Andy's own research ranges from the use of gene targeting to study basic problems in cell biology (e.g. the roles of Cdk1 in the cell cycle and DNA repair, Topoisomerase II in chromosome dynamics, and Bcl6 in B-cell function), through analyses of the role of DNA repair proteins in gene targeting and DNA double strand break repair, to the use of customised endonucleases to promote gene correction at the human beta-globin locus.
Publications
Journals
Isman O, Porter A, 2021, U5 snRNA interactions with exons ensure splicing precision, Frontiers in Genetics, Vol:12, ISSN:1664-8021
Antoniou-Kourounioti M, Mimmack ML, Porter ACG, et al., 2019, The impact of the C-terminal region on the interaction of topoisomerase II alpha with mitotic chromatin, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, Vol:20, ISSN:1422-0067
Motea EA, Fattah FJ, Xiao L, et al., 2018, Kub5-Hera(RPRD1B) deficiency promotes “BRCAness” and vulnerability to PARP inhibition in BRCA-proficient breast cancers, Clinical Cancer Research, Vol:24, ISSN:1078-0432, Pages:6459-6470
Kozuki T, Chikamori K, Surleac MD, et al., 2017, Roles of the C-terminal domains of topoisomerase II alpha and topoisomerase II beta in regulation of the decatenation checkpoint, Nucleic Acids Research, Vol:45, ISSN:0305-1048, Pages:5995-6010
Ahrabi S, Sarkar S, Pfister SX, et al., 2016, A role for human homologous recombination factors in suppressing microhomology-mediated end joining, Nucleic Acids Research, Vol:44, ISSN:1362-4962, Pages:5743-5757