Sarah Sabatinos
Toronto, Ontario
Position: Associate Professor, Graduate Program Director
Organization: Toronto Metropolitan University
Researcher in field of cell cycle checkpoints, DNA replication & repair, and genome stability.
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My Work
What I do:
Researcher in field of cell cycle checkpoints, DNA replication & repair, and genome stability. My NSERC-funded work investigates how environmental stress signalling- particularly heat stress- alters DNA replication stability. We are now testing how MAPK/SAPK kinases alter DNA replication stress perception using fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) and mammalian cell lines. My goal is to understand how DNA replication instability predisposes cells to becoming cancer. As a flip side to this, we also study how DNA replication inhibiting drugs generate drug resistance during treatment. As a basic researcher, my collaborations with translational researchers study drug impacts on mutation. I have many collaborative and industrial projects that use our findings in drug, food, and compound developments. My personal mission is to bring science research opportunities to students who never had a chance to see themselves in research. I’m working on making this happen with remote research experiences, and by supervising many graduate student and undergraduate student thesis projects directly in the lab.
Ask me about:
DNA replication stability; DNA repair mechanisms; Schizosaccharomyces pombe; antifungal compounds, development of boron containing drugs; remote research design and practise; metabolic stress; nucleoside analogue drugs
Fun facts:
I’ve trained over 100 graduate student, undergraduate, postdoc and high school trainees since I began my lab in 2015. I also volunteer in the community because I like to tell people about the science that we investigate, and hear what they think! Community members have questions that I haven’t thought about- this makes work in the lab better, and addresses things that people want to know. I also work with companies to extend and apply our work from the bench. I specifically encourage and develop industrial relationships that make training opportunities for students.
About Me
Sector: Academia (Post Secondary)
English proficiency: Read, Write, Speak
French proficiency: Read, Write, Speak
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers
Gender: Female