Travis H. Stracker

Dr. Stracker received his BS in Genetics from the University of Georgia and moved to the University of California, San Diego to perform his PhD in Biology in the laboratory of Matthew Weitzman at the Salk Institute. There he identified a role for Adenovirus oncoproteins in the inactivation of the cellular DNA damage response. He then moved to the lab of John Petrini in Sloan-Kettering Institute to pursue the analysis of the DNA damage response using mouse models of human genetic instability disorder. This work uncovered key roles for the MRE11 complex, a key sensor of DNA breaks, in regulating apoptosis and defined its role in tumor suppression. In 2009, Dr. Stracker moved to the IRB Barcelona to form his own group. There his group has pursued the role of genomic instability in the pathology of rare diseases and undertaken the characterization of numerous DNA damage response factors and their roles in cancer or as potential targets for cancer therapy.