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Maria Jasin (born 1956) is a developmental biologist at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is known for studying homologous recombination, a method in which double-strand breaks in DNA strands are repaired, and for discovering the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in cancers.

Early life, education and career

Jasin was born in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan. Her father was from present-day Slovakia, while the family of her Canada-born mother was from today's Iraq. After her mother died, Jasin's father relocated the family to south Florida. Jasin and her older sister went to Florida Atlantic University for undergraduate studies, where she graduated with a BSc.

Jasin received her PhD in 1984 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Paul Schimmel. She then went to Switzerland as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Zurich for a year, and then returned to the United States as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University until 1990.

In 1990, Jasin joined the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Cornell University as an assistant professor and Frederick R. Adler Chair for Junior Faculty (until 1993). She was subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1996 and full professor and William E. Snee Chair in 2000.

Currently, she leads her own research group at the Developmental Biology Program in MSKCC, and is affiliated with the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Jasin has been an investigator at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation since 2017.

Research

Jasin's research focuses on homologous recombination. She showed in 1994 that expressing a restriction enzyme that recognizes DNA sequences uncommon in the target genome, also known as a rare-cutting restriction enzyme, can generate DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) at specific locations, allowing for targeted genome editing. Her key study in 1998 found that DNA double strand breaks increases the likelihood of homologous recombination by 1000 folds.

The next year, in separate reports, Jasin's group discovered that BRCA1 and XRCC3 are, respectively, required for and involved in homologous recombination. Then in 2001, Jasin's group reported BRCA2 is also required for homologous recombination. Together, these discoveries show how BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations cause cancers.

Honors and awards

• Mendel Lectures (2015)
• Member of the National Academy of Sciences (2015)
• Member of the National Academy of Medicine (2016)
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017)
• Shaw Prize in Life science and medicine (2019)
• Fellow of the American Association for Cancer Research Academy (2020)
• Member of the American Philosophical Society (2022)

References

1. Jasin, Maria (1984). Gene deletions and point mutations which define functional domains in alanine tRNA synthetase (PhD thesis). Retrieved July 13, 2023.
2. ^ "Autobiography of Maria Jasin". Shaw Prize. p. July 13, 2023. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
3. Sylvestri, Brittany (April 29, 2021). "FAU Honors 2021 Hall of Fame Inductees along with Distinguished Alumni". Florida Atlantic University. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
4. ^ "Maria Jasin". Shaw Prize. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
5. ^ "Prof. Maria Jasin" (PDF). NATURA, občianske združenie. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
6. "The Maria Jasin Lab". Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
7. "Maria Jasin". Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
8. "Maria Jasin, PhD". Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Archived from the original on July 30, 2023. Retrieved July 30, 2023.
9. Rouet, Philippe; Smih, Fatima; Jasin, Maria (1994). "Introduction of Double-Strand Breaks into the Genome of Mouse Cells by Expression of a Rare-Cutting Endonuclease". Molecular and Cellular Biology. 14 (12): 8096–8106. doi:10.1128/mcb.14.12.8096-8106.1994. PMC 359348. PMID 7969147.
10. Richardson, Christine; Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Jasin, Maria (1998). "Double-strand break repair by interchromosomal recombination: suppression of chromosomal translocations". Genes & Development. 12 (24): 3831–3842. doi:10.1101/gad.12.24.3831. PMC 317271. PMID 9869637.
11. Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Chiu, Joanne W.; Koller, Beverly H.; Jasin, Maria (1999). "Brca1 Controls Homology-Directed DNA Repair". Molecular Cell. 4 (4): 511–518. doi:10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80202-6. PMID 10549283.
12. Pierce, Andrew J.; Johnson, Roger D.; Thompson, Larry H.; Jasin, Maria (1999). "XRCC3 promotes homology-directed repair of DNA damage in mammalian cells". Genes & Development. 13 (20): 2633–2638. doi:10.1101/gad.13.20.2633. PMC 317094. PMID 10541549.
13. Moynahan, Mary Ellen; Pierce, Andrew J.; Jasin, Maria (2001). "BRCA2 Is Required for Homology-Directed Repair of Chromosomal Breaks". Molecular Cell. 7 (2): 263–272. doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(01)00174-5. PMID 11239455.
14. Szewczak, Lara (2017). "A Conversation with Maria Jasin". Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. 82: 400–402. doi:10.1101/sqb.2017.82.035345. PMID 29743335. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
15. "Protecting the Genome by Homologous Recombination". Mendel Lectures. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
16. "Maria Jasin". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.
17. "Dr. Maria Jasin". National Academy of Medicine. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
18. "Maria Jasin". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on July 13, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
19. "Maria Jasin, PhD". American Association for Cancer Research. Archived from the original on August 1, 2023. Retrieved August 1, 2023.
20. "Dr. Maria Jasin". American Philosophical Society. Archived from the original on July 31, 2023. Retrieved July 31, 2023.

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center faculty
• 21st-century American biologists
• American expatriates in Switzerland
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• 21st-century American women scientists
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni
• Florida Atlantic University alumni
• Stanford University postdoctoral scholars
• Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Living people
• Weill Medical College of Cornell University faculty
• 1956 births
• American women academics
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• Members of the National Academy of Medicine
• Fellows of the AACR Academy