Research Overview

    I use synthetic and physical organic chemistry to address specific biological questions.  Currently, my work focuses on 8-oxo-2’-deoxyguanosine (OdG), an abundant DNA lesion that can cause genome mutation and is thought to play a major role in several diseases, including cancer.  My group is synthesizing analogs of OdG and incorporating them into short strands of DNA.  These analogs have great potential as biochemical tools with which to study the contacts that take place between OdG lesions and other biopolymers.  For example, we will use these molecules to study how various nucleotides and enzymes, including polymerases and glycosylases, interact with OdG at the molecular level.  These studies will help reveal not only how these lesions lead to DNA mutations, but also how the mutations are prevented and/or removed by DNA repair enzymes.  Furthermore, since it has been hypothesized that mutations produced by OdG may trigger the associated diseases, these studies may also provide insight into the link between disease and OdG.

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Papers at UR (*denotes undergraduate author)
Hamm, M.L.; Parker A.J.; Steele, T.W.E.; Carman, J.L.; Parish, C.A.
"Oligonucleotide Incorporation and Base Pair Stability of 9-Deaza-2'-deoxyguanosine, an Analogue of 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine."
J. Org. Chem. 2010, 75, 5661-5669

Hamm, M.L.; *Gill, T.J.; *Nicolson, S.C.; *Summers, M.R.
"Substrate Specificity of Fpg (MutM) and hOGG1, Two Repair Glycosylases"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 7724-7725

Hamm, M.L.; *Billig, K.
"Oligonucleotide Incorporation and Base Pair Stability of 7-Methyl-8-oxo-2’-deoxyguanosine" Org. Biomol. Chem. 2006 4, 4068-4070

Hamm, M.L.; *Rajguru, S.; *Downs, A.M.; *Cholera, R.
"Base Pair Stability of 8-Chloro- and 8-Iodo-2'-deoxyguanosine Opposite 2'-Deoxycytidine:
Implications Regarding the Bioactivity of 8-Oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine"
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 12220-12221

Hamm, M.L.; *Cholera, R.; *Hoey, C.L.; *Gill, T.J.
"Oligonucleotide Incorporation of 8-Thio-2'-deoxyguanosine"
Org. Lett. 2004, 6,  3817-3820

Funding Sources
NSF-RUI- 2010
Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award- 2007
ACS-PRF Grant- 2003
NSF-CAREER Grant- 2003
Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Award- 2002
Jeffress Memorial Trust Research Grant- 2001
Dreyfus Foundation Faculty Start-up Grant for Undergraduate Institutions-2001