Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Contact, publication, and social network information about Harvard faculty and fellows.

Zachary D Nagel, Ph.D.

Title
Institution
Department
Address
Phone
Profile Picture

Overview
Research Interests

Why can some people tolerate exposure to DNA damaging agents such as radiation, sunlight, reactive oxygen species and tobacco smoke, while others develop disease? Why do some cancers respond to radiation and chemotherapy, while others do not? Research in the Nagel lab is focused on finding answers to these questions by studying DNA repair. We are using novel multiplex, cell-based DNA repair assays (FM-HCR) together with biochemical and biophysical approaches to understand DNA repair at the molecular, cellular and population levels, with the long-term goal of advancing personalized prevention and treatment of disease.

One area of research is focused on defining the structural and mechanistic biology of the molecular machines that repair DNA damage. This project is aimed at understanding how mutations affect the function of DNA repair complexes, and identifying cancer-specific therapeutic targets.

A second major initiative is to measure DNA repair capacity in cancer cells and generate mathematical models that predict whether cancer cells will be sensitive to killing with specific DNA damaging agents. The goal of this project is to identify personalized cancer therapy strategies.

A third major interest involves measuring inter-individual differences in DNA repair capacity in non-cancerous cells. The goal of this work is to identify functional biomarkers that can be used for individualized predictions regarding disease risk and sensitivity to exposure to radiation and other DNA damaging agents.

Research
The research activities and funding listed below are automatically derived from NIH ExPORTER and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing items. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
  1. R21ES036696 (NAGEL, ZACHARY DAVID) Jul 9, 2024 - Jun 30, 2026
    NIH
    Integrating Genomic Signatures with Functional Analysis of DNA repair
    Role: Principal Investigator
  2. U01ES029520 (CHRISTIANI, DAVID C;ENGELWARD, BEVIN P.;NAGEL, ZACHARY DAVID) Sep 15, 2018 - Jun 30, 2024
    NIH
    Multi-Pathway DNA Repair Capacity Measurements in Lung Cancer Patients and Healthy Controls
    Role: Principal Investigator

Bibliographic
Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.
Newest   |   Oldest   |   Most Cited   |   Most Discussed   |   Timeline   |   Field Summary   |   Plain Text
PMC Citations indicate the number of times the publication was cited by articles in PubMed Central, and the Altmetric score represents citations in news articles and social media. (Note that publications are often cited in additional ways that are not shown here.) Fields are based on how the National Library of Medicine (NLM) classifies the publication's journal and might not represent the specific topic of the publication. Translation tags are based on the publication type and the MeSH terms NLM assigns to the publication. Some publications (especially newer ones and publications not in PubMed) might not yet be assigned Field or Translation tags.) Click a Field or Translation tag to filter the publications.
Updating...
This operation might take several minutes to complete. Please do not close your browser.
Local representatives can answer questions about the Profiles website or help with editing a profile or issues with profile data. For assistance with this profile: SPH faculty should contact Faculty Affairs at facultyaffairshsph.harvard.edu.
Nagel's Networks
Click the
Explore
buttons for more information and interactive visualizations!
Concepts (215)
Explore
_
Co-Authors (27)
Explore
_
Similar People (60)
Explore
_
Same Department 
Explore
_
Funded by the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences through its Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, grant number UL1TR002541.