Chris Richardson

Biography

Chris Richardson received his B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego. His Ph.D. work in Joachim Li’s lab at the University of California, San Francisco explored the regulation of DNA replication in budding yeast. His postdoctoral research in Jacob Corn’s lab at UC Berkeley investigated DNA repair in mammalian cells and how DNA repair processes can be utilized for gene editing. He joined the MCDB faculty in 2019.

Research

Human cells constantly repair DNA damage caused by everything from biological processes and chemical insults to CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing reagents. Cells repair DNA by spatially and temporally coordinating the activity of hundreds of individual DNA repair factors. Failure or inability to repair damaged DNA can result in innocuous sequence mutation, or severe consequences like genome instability and cell death. This interplay between DNA damage and repair is intricately linked to organismal biology and plays key roles in embryo development, carcinogenesis, and aging.

How, why, and when cells deploy DNA repair factors in response to damage – and the impact these decisions make on repair outcomes – are central questions in genome biology. We use genetic, biochemical, and systems biology tools to investigate these topics.

Understanding DNA repair will reveal strategies to alter these processes in cells. This in turn could enable new therapeutics and improve the function of gene editing reagents in laboratory or therapeutic contexts.

Mentoring Priorities

"I aspire to be an outstanding mentor who develops trainees into independent and productive scientists. My training philosophy emphasizes the development of key research skills: 1) identifying knowledge gaps, 2) designing experiments to define unknowns, and 3) clearly communicating findings in person or in writing. At a practical level, I work with trainees from undergraduate to graduate level to define their scientific and career goals, and then build the work habits that allow them to compete for funding, perform experiments independently, and effectively communicate their findings in an appropriate venue."