ESR 11: Eveliina Ponkkonen

Photodamage and repair of DNA containing epigenetically relevant bases

Host: Prof. Thomas Carell

B5:  Department of Chemistry

LightDyNAmics Research

Scientific Background

Scientific Publications

This project aims to investigate photo damage formation in DNA containing epigenetically relevant bases. Further, the known enzymatic system behind the photo damage repair is applied in in vitro experiments to investigate its effect on the observed lesions. The project includes the synthesis of epigenetically relevant nucleosides and solid phase synthesis of oligonucleotides containing these bases. Analytical methods including high resolution mass spectrometry are applied to characterize the potential photo damage products of irradiation experiments.

M.Sc was received in Chemistry at the University of Jyväskylä, which included the master thesis project in the Carell Group at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The main focus was on the synthesis of epigenetically relevant nucleosides. These nucleosides were then used further to study active demethylation in stem cells.

1. Piotr Kabaciński (ESR1), Marco Romanelli, Eveliina Ponkkonen (ESR11), Vishal Kumar Jaiswal (ESR2), Thomas Carell, Marco Garavelli, Giulio Cerullo, Irene Conti (2021) Unified Description of Ultrafast Excited State Decay Processes in Epigenetic Deoxycytidine Derivatives. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
2. Alexander Schön, Ewelina Kaminska, Florian Schelter, Eveliina Ponkkonen (ESR11), Eva Korytiaková, Sarah Schiffers, Thomas Carell (2020) Analysis of an Active Deformylation Mechanism of 5-Formyl-deoxycytidine (fdC) in Stem Cells. Angewandte Chemie International Edition
3. Nadine Müller, Eveliina Ponkkonen (ESR11), Thomas Carell, Andriy Khobta (2021) Direct and Base Excision Repair-Mediated Regulation of a GC-Rich cis-Element in Response to 5-Formylcytosine and 5-Carboxycytosine. International Journal of
   Molecular Sciences