Skip to main content.

Bret D. Freudenthal, PhD

Bret Freudenthal portrait
Associate Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Associate Professor, Bret David Freudenthal, Cancer Biology

bfreudenthal@kumc.edu

Professional Background

Dr. Bret D. Freudenthal is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas Medical Center. He is a member of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and affiliated with the Department of Cancer Biology. The overarching goal of his research is to understand the interplay between DNA damage and deleterious human health outcomes. The Freudenthal lab utilizes a reductionist approach consisting of structural, biochemical, cellular, and molecular biology assays to investigate complex biological questions. By combining this multi-disciplinary approach we hope to develop better therapeutic treatments for human diseases. The University of Kansas Cancer Center is a designated National Cancer Institute (NCI), which places our lab in the ideal position to pursue these goals.

Education and Training
  • BS, Biochemistry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO
  • PhD, Biochemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
  • Post Doctoral Fellowship, DNA Repair, National Institutes of Environmental Health, NIH, Research Triangle Park, NC

Research

Overview

Laboratory of Genome Maintenance and Structural Biology

The cellular genome is continually exposed to hazards that damage the DNA and reduce its stability; promoting deleterious human health outcomes. Importantly, multiple enzymes involved in maintaining genomic stability are deregulated or mutated in cancer cells. While a general connection between DNA damage and human health has been established, it remains unclear how genome stability is altered at the molecular level. In this sense, the "devil is truly in the details" and gaining mechanistic insight is essential.

The overarching goal of the lab is to fill the knowledge gap between DNA damage and human disease in hopes of beneficially impacting the treatment and/or prevention of human ailments. We are particularly interested in oxidative DNA damage because the basis of multiple human afflictions are rooted in oxidative stress. A primary defense mechanism employed during the repair of oxidative DNA damage is Base Excision Repair (BER). BER involves the removal of the damaged base and subsequent processing by a multi-protein complex that protects the cell from toxic DNA intermediates.

Major Research Goals within the Lab include:

1) Elucidating how DNA damage is generated, processed, and repaired
2) Identifying DNA polymerase strategies during replication and repair
3) Determine how large multi-protein complexes channel and protect toxic DNA intermediates during DNA damage processing
4) Utilize creative structural techniques to probe key biological questions
5) Develop approaches to manipulate the DNA damage response to treat and prevent deleterious human diseases

Lab Scientific Approach:

The lab utilizes a reductionist approach to investigate complex biological questions. This approach includes structural (x-ray and neutron), biochemical, kinetic, and molecular biology assays. The workhorse of the lab is x-ray crystallography. We have an in-house Rigaku MicroMax-007 HF rotating anode equipped with a Pilatus 200K detector that is utilized for the collection of publication quality macromolecular x-ray crystallographic data sets. We combine our multi-disciplinary approach with cellular collaborations to validate structure-function models.