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Patrick Sung, DPhil

Professor of Biochemistry & Structural Biology

Robert A Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry

Currently seeking Ph.D. students

I was born in Hong Kong and earned my doctoral degree from Oxford University. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Louise and Satya Prakash at the University of Rochester, I established my laboratory in 1993 at UT Medical Branch, Galveston. Since then, I have maintained a strong commitment toward understanding how eukaryotes engage homologous recombination (HR) as tool in eliminating DNA breaks. The efficiency of HR catalyzed by the RAD51 recombinase is regulated by the tumor suppressors BRCA1 and BRCA2, providing evidence for a key role of HR in cancer avoidance. Our findings have appeared in journals such as Cell, Genes and Development, Nature, and Science. I have played a leading role in teaching, advising, and mentoring students and fellows. I have served on various NIH study sections, on the editorial board of various journals including Genes and Development (since 2002), and as an Editor or Associate Editor of Molecular & Cellular Biology (from 2000-2008) and The Journal of Biological Chemistry (since 2014). I was elected into the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering while a faculty at Yale University, where I also served as Chair of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry for six years. I was recruited to UT Health San Antonio in 2019 as a Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology and an Established Investigator of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). I also hold the Robert A Welch Distinguished Chair in Chemistry, and am the recipient of an Outstanding Investigator Award from the National Cancer Institute.