Professor Anne Donaldson

Biography

Anne Donaldson investigates how cells replicate their DNA—a process central to all life, since a complete copy of the genome must be passed to each daughter cell on every cell division.  Anne’s research is funded by major grants from Cancer Research UK and the Wellcome Trust.  Within the Institute of Medical Sciences Anne leads the 'Chromosome & Cellular Dynamics' Section, consisting of six research groups sharing interests in chromosome dynamics.

After her Bachelors degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, Anne completed her PhD at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, then moved as a NATO/SERC postdoctoral fellow to the University of Washington in Seattle where she began to study DNA replication.  Anne established her lab as a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Dundee, moving in 2003 to the University of Aberdeen Institute of Medical Sciences.  

Anne served as Organizer of the Cold Spring Harbor Eukaryotic DNA Replication & Genome Maintenance meeting from 2014-2019, and on the Organizing Committee for the 2022 UK DNA Replication meeting. 

Anne is a member of the Wellcome Trust Discovery Award Interview Committee. 

Research Overview

!!We have Postdoc and PhD positions available in the lab, funded by the Wellcome Trust and by Cancer Research UK!! 

Interested applicants please send CV to Anne Donaldson with an explanation of your interest in our research area and your related lab experience.

Human cells contain 1.8 metres of DNA in a nucleus only about 6 microns in diameter. During chromosome replication this entire length of DNA must be duplicated exactly once with perfect accuracy, so that the strands can be disentangled and precisely segregated to the daughter cells. The DNA is extremely vulnerable to damage during this process, and cells must deal with thousands of potentially lethal DNA damage events every single day. Members of the Donaldson lab investigate the molecular controls over DNA replication and damage repair. Understanding chromosome maintenance will suggest new therapeutic strategies in the fight against cancer, as well as illuminating the basic mechanisms at the heart of the cell division cycle.

The budding yeast S. cerevisiae provides an excellent model organism for studying the fundamentals of chromosome biology, because of the remarkable molecular genetics tools available for this system. DNA replication initiates at multiple sites on each chromosome called replication origins. We use molecular genetics to understand the processes of yeast DNA replication, which we then investigate in human cells.  Using this approach we have discovered several molecular mechanisms of replication control that operate throughout eukaryotic cells.

Our focus of interest is understanding the molecular machinery controlling origin initiation, replication fork progression, and chromosome maintenance.  We use a combination of advanced proteomic, biochemical, genomic and microscopy methods to investigate the cellular components that regulate these DNA replication and repair processes.  

Funding and Grants

Cancer Research UK Programme Award (£1,561,000) ‘How does Rif1 regulate DNA replication and cell recovery after chemotherapeutic replication inhibition?' Grant to Prof Anne Donaldson & Dr Shin-ichiro Hiraga

Wellcome Trust Discovery Award (£2,475,614) ‘Control of DNA Replication by Protein Dephosphorylation: the Role of Protein Phosphatase 1 and its Regulatory Interactors’