| Jana Dobrovolná, Ph.D. | ||
| Address: | Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences Vídeňská 1083 142 20 Prague 4, Czech Republic | |
| Phone: Phone (laboratory): | +420 241 063 127 +420 241 063 112 | |
| E-mail: | jana.dobrovolna@img.cas.cz | |
| 2002 - 2008 | Ph.D. studies at the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic Thesis: Regulation of promyelocytic leukemia (PML) gene expression. Supervisor: Zdenek Hodny, MD, PhD and Prof. Pavel Hozak, PhD |
| 1995 - 2001 | Master’s degree in Biology at Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Czech Republic Thesis: The study of hormone induced changes in G-protein content in membrane microdomains Supervisor: Doc. Petr Svoboda, PhD |
| 01/2020 – present | Research fellow at the Laboratory of Cancer Cell Biology, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. Head of Department: Libor Macůrek, PhD Head of the project: Pavel Janščák, PhD |
| 02/2013 – present | Deputy head of Dr. Pavel Janščák |
| 02/2013 – 12/2019 | Research fellow at the Department of Genome Integrity, Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. Head of Department: Prof. Jiří Bártek, MD, DSc Head of the project: Pavel Janščák, PhD |
| 06/2008 – 12/2011 | Postdoctoral research fellow position at Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, N.Y., USA. Head of Laboratory: Inez Rogatsky, PhD |
| 07/2002 – 12/2007 | Research investigator at the Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Department of Biology of the Cell Nucleus, Czech Republic. Head of Department: Prof. Pavel Hozak, PhD |
| 1996– 2001 | Young investigator at the Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic. Head of Department: Doc. Petr Svoboda, PhD |
Role of R-loops in onset of genomic instability and counteracting molecular mechanisms
Cancer is one of the main causes of death; world-wide it accounts for 13 % of the total number of deaths. The vast majority of human cancers are linked to genome instability, a hallmark of the transition of a normal cell to a pre-cancerous cell. The pre-cancerous cells are still benign, but because of an acquired selective advantage they have an increased potential to be transformed to fully malignant cells. Activated oncogenes that can drive such a transformation were recently shown to induce extensive replication stress, e.g. stalling or collapse of replication forks, preferentially at specific genomic regions called common fragile sites (CFSs). Replication stress can result from collisions between replication machinery and oncoming transcription complexes, which can lead to the formation of highly genotoxic RNA:DNA hybrids referred to as R-loops. A link between the breakage of CFSs and the formation of R-loops as a consequence of replication/transcription encounters has recently been established. R-loops are composed of the nascent RNA annealed to the DNA template strand and unpaired complementary DNA strand that is vulnerable to breakage. Despite of growing evidence that unscheduled formation and stabilization of R-loops in eukaryotic cells challenges genomic integrity, the mechanisms involved in the resolution of these structures remain poorly understood.
The goal of our work is to advance understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying R-loop formation, prevention and resolution and to explore the possible role of these structures in oncogene-induced DNA damage. Specifically, we aim to identify proteins that bind to R-loop structures under conditions of replication stress and to establish the functional significance of these proteins in the resolution of transcription/replication collisions and in suppression of transcription-associated genomic instability. Further, we aim to identify on genome-wide scale the loci that are prone to R-loop formation upon oncogene-induced replication stress.
Current people in the research team
Aditya Aithal – Ph.D. student (supervisor: Pavel Janščák, co-mentor: Jana Dobrovolná)
Anna Oravetzová Huňová – Ph.D. student (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Pavel Janščák)
Tias Saha - postdoctoral fellow (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Pavel Janščák)
Kaustubh Shukla – postdoctoral fellow (supervisor: Pavel Janščák, co-mentor: Jana Dobrovolná)
Anton Zuev – Ph.D. student (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Pavel Janščák)
Graduated Ph.D. students
Barbora Boleslavská (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Pavel Janščák), graduation 2023
Zuzana Naščáková (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Pavel Janščák), granduation 2021
Graduated M.Sc. student
Jana Fryzelková (supervisor: Jana Dobrovolná, co-mentor: Václav Urban), graduation 2017
Other past members
Martin Andrš (postdoc)
Kamila Burdová (Ph.D. student)
Zdenka Hašanová (postdoc)
Edita Křížová Vlachová (Ph.D. student)
Roman Straňanek (Ph.D. Student)
Václav Urban (Ph.D. Student)
Positions for undergraduate students (to achieve B.Sc. or M.Sc.) and for Ph.D. students are available.
Feel free to contact Jana Dobrovolna jana.dobrovolna@img.cas.cz for detail information any time.
Masaryk University
Lumír Krejčí
Kamenice 753/5
625 00 Brno
Czech Republic
University of Zurich
Pavel Janščák
Institute of Molecular Cancer Research
Winterthurerstrasse 190
CH-8057 Zurich
Switzerland