Dr Arwa Abugable
PhD Student at the University of Sheffield
Dr Arwa Abugable
Dr Arwa Abugable
About
Abugable is a PhD student at the University of Sheffield studying the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair.
Current research
The DNA is constantly exposed to various sources of stress, including oxidative stress arising from different physiological processes. Persistent oxidative stress can lead to DNA breaks which are usually recognized and repaired by the cellular DNA repair toolkit. Abugable is currently working on understanding how nuclear structural proteins promote the repair of these oxidative breaks, particularly in regions that were thought to be non-essential. These regions are also important for transcription and hence the role of these structural proteins in regulating transcription following oxidative stress is also investigated.
Future research vision
Abugable's future research aims to further investigate the mechanisms by which DNA breaks occur in the non-coding regions of the genome and the effect of these breaks on processes such as DNA repair and transcription. This is particularly important as defects in the repair of these breaks has been implicated in various neurological disorders. Hence, investigating how these breaks are formed and repaired would pave the way for enhancing our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of neurological disorders when proteins implicated in the repair of these breaks are non-functional. This opens the door to identify potential diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic options for these neurological disorders.
Key publications

Ray, S*, Abugable, A* et al. A mechanism for Oxidative Damage Repair at Gene Regulator Elements. Nature, 2022.

Jurga, M et al. USP11 Controls R-Loops by Regulating Senataxin Proteostasis. Nature Communications, 2021.

Abugable, A et al. DNA Repair and Neurological Disease: From Molecular Understanding to the Development of Diagnostics and Model Organisms. DNA Repair, 2019.

Shawky, S et al. Gold Nanoparticles – an Optical Biosensor for RNA Quantification for Cancer and Neurologic Disorders Diagnosis. International Journal of Nanomedicine, 2018.

Elserafy, M et al. Rad5, HLTF, and SHPRH: A Fresh View of an Old Story. Trends in Genetics, 2018.

Key awards

PhD Scholarship, University of Sheffield.

Best Poster Prize, University of Sheffield.

BSc Scholarship, German University in Cairo.

Award for Excellence, Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak.

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