Dr. Robert Sobol joined the faculty of Mitchell Cancer Institute (MCI) in 2014 as the Chief of the Molecular & Metabolic Oncology Program. He also serves as the Point Clear Charities Professor of Oncologic Sciences and an Abraham A. Mitchell Distinguished Investigator. The Molecular & Metabolic Oncology Program focuses on the cellular mechanisms of DNA repair and metabolism and how these processes impact cancer development and the response to cancer treatments. Serving as program director, Sobol works with eight labs, including his new lab, two current MCI labs and five others to be added in the coming years.
Research in the Sobol lab focuses on the mechanism of base excision repair, PARP and NAD+ metabolism in human cells and the convergent role of these enzymes and pathways in response to environmental Genotoxins and chemotherapy. A major goal in the lab is to use biochemical, genetic and imaging modalities to study the protein complexes of the base excision repair pathway that respond to DNA damage induced by Genotoxins and chemotherapy and how this pathway affects the regulation of cellular metabolism via ADP-ribosylation signaling and alterations in NAD+ metabolism. Dr. Sobol's research has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), American Cancer Society, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Brain Tumor Society, among others.
Learn more about the DNA Damage and Repair Lab.
USA Health has a comprehensive biomedical research program that spans a wide range of clinical, basic and translational research. At the Mitchell Cancer Institute, our physicians and scientific investigators are searching for breakthrough discoveries to improve the lives of cancer patients.
MCI researchers are using their findings to better understand why some cancer treatment responses may be affected differently depending on the patient’s vitamin B3 dietary intake and how a cancerous tumor can grow and spread because of a patient’s metabolism.
The article titled “Extracellular NAD+ enhances PARP-dependent DNA repair capacity independently of CD73 activity” outlines the importance of NAD+, also known as an “energy molecule.” NAD+ is essential for survival of every cell in the body, and plays an important role in cancer research and treatment efficacy.
