Biology Department

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Debra WaltherDebra A. Walther
Visiting Lecturer
Biology
New Science Building, 113
Phone: 484-664-4058
dwalther@muhlenberg.edu

Education
B. S. Biological Sciences, University of Delaware
Ph.D. Genetics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Postdoctoral Fellow, Brandeis University

Courses Taught
Concepts of Biology: From DNA to Cancer (BIO 107)
Principles of Biology II Laboratory (BIO 151)
Principles of Biology III Laboratory (BIO 152)

Research Interests

My research interests are focused on understanding the mechanism of recombinational DNA repair using yeast as a model organism. I use chromosome tagging and fluorescence microscopy of living yeast cells to study the dynamics and nuclear arrangement of chromosomal loci involved in recombination. I am interested in understanding changes in chromosome dynamics in response to DNA damage through the development and application of new methods in fluorescence microscopy.

Recent Publications   *denotes undergraduate co-author
(as D. Bressan)

Carlton P. M., J. Boulanger, C. Kervrann, J. B. Sibarita, J. Salamero, S. Gordon-Messer, D. Bressan, J. E. Haber, S. Haase, L. Shao, L. Winoto, A. Matsuda, P. Kner, S. Uzawa, M. Gustafsson, Z. Kam, D. A. Agard, and J. W. Sedat. 2010. Fast live simultaneous multiwavelength four-dimensional optical microscopy. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 107(37): 16016-16022.

Ira, G., A. Pellicioli, A. Balijja, X. Wang, S. Fiorani, W. Carotenuto, G. Liberi, D. Bressan, L. Wan, N. M. Hollingsworth, J. E. Haber, and M. Foiani. 2004. DNA end resection, homologous recombination and DNA damage checkpoint activation require CDK1. Nature. 431(7011): 1011-1017.

Miyazaki, T., D. A. Bressan, M. Shinohara, J. E. Haber, and A. Shinohara. 2004. In vivo assembly and disassembly of Rad51 and Rad52 complexes during double-strand break repair. EMBO J. 23(4): 939-949.

Bressan, D. A., J. Vazquez, and J. E. Haber. 2004. Mating type-dependent constraints on the mobility of the left arm of yeast chromosome III. Journal of Cell Biology. 164: 361-371.

Lee, S. E., D. A. Bressan, J. H. J. Petrini, and J. E. Haber. 2002. Complementation between N-terminal Saccharomyces cerevisiae mre11 alleles in DNA repair and telomere length maintenance. DNA Repair. 1: 27-40.

Stewart, G., R. S. Maser, T. Stankovic, D. A. Bressan, M. I. Kaplan, N. G. J. Jaspers, A. Raams, P. J. Byrd, J. H. J. Petrini, and A. M. R. Taylor. 1999. The DNA double-strand break repair gene hMRE11 is mutated in individuals with an ataxia telangiectasia-like disorder. Cell. 99(6): 577-587.