Maria Victoria Botuyan, PhD

Dr. Botuyan received her B.S. in Chemistry from the University of the Philippines and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Purdue University. She undertook postdoctoral training at the Scripps Research Institute, the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope, the University of Toronto, and the Mayo Clinic. She is currently a Research Scientist and an Assistant Professor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Dr. Botuyan is interested in understanding how genome integrity is maintained and how impaired DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair can lead to cancer. As a biochemist and structural biologist, she has helped characterize the mechanisms of action of several DNA damage response (DDR) proteins. With the generous support from the OCRA, Dr. Botuyan’s current work focuses on probing how DDR proteins RAD18, BARD1 and 53BP1 function together in regulating DSB repair by homologous recombination, with implications for cancer prevention and the long-term development of new therapeutics for ovarian cancer. Dr. Botuyan’s research has also been supported by the US Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program.