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The
Distinguished Faculty Research Award is presented annually to a faculty
member whose research has made an impact on a broad field of science by
contributing to the solution of a significant scientific problem, or whose
work shows ingenuity and originality in the application of novel
techniques to an important area of science. This year we are honoring:
Sankar Mitra earned both his
B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Calcutta
University, Calcutta, India. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from
the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. in 1964.
He worked briefly at Stanford Medical School and then returned to
Calcutta where he was a senior research fellow and then associate
professor at the Bose Institute from 1966–1971. In 1971, Dr. Mitra
joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Biology Division in Tennessee as
senior staff member and head of the Nucleic Acid-Protein Transactions
Group. After 20 years at Oak Ridge, he came to UTMB in 1992. He is a
professor in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and
in the department of Radiation Oncology. Dr. Mitra is also senior
scientist in the Sealy Center for Molecular Science.
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Sankar
Mitra, Ph.D.
Professor
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
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Dr. Mitra’s area of research
is DNA damage and its repair. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of
regulation of DNA repair genes is important from both the basic and
clinical perspective. He has made a number of highly significant
contributions to the field. These include co-discovery of O6-methylguanine-DNA
methyltransferase in E. coli in 1980, and the first cloning of
human O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase cDNA and its
naming as MGMT in 1990. Since arriving at UTMB he has discovered the
autoregulation of human AP-endonuclease, the activation of human APE by
oxidative stress, a second enzyme for 8-oxoguanine repair and a hypothesis
for replication-coupled repair. Dr. Mitra most recently identified human
AP-endonuclease 2 as a mitochondrial enzyme, and discovered a new family
of human DNA glycosylases. According to a letter of nomination, “any
single one of these contributions would stand alone as an outstanding
achievement for a scientist.”
With more than 135
peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Sankar Mitra presents a long, productive
and internationally recognized research record.
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