TRANSLATIONAL ONCOLOGY GROUP
Translational Oncology Group research

Professor Deborah J. Marsh — Translational Oncology Group

Translational Oncology Group

University of Technology Sydney (UTS)

Welcome to our lab

Chromatin and therapeutic response in ovarian and women's cancers

We study how histone H2B monoubiquitination (H2Bub1), p53‑linked transcriptional programmes and chromatin remodelling determine cellular responses to DNA‑damaging therapies and influence drug resistance and tumour progression.
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Principal investigator

Professor Deborah J. Marsh

Discipline Leader, Medical Science; Group leader, Translational Oncology Group

Professor Marsh leads translational studies linking chromatin changes with therapeutic response in ovarian and women’s cancers. She has held major competitive fellowships and published extensively on H2Bub1 and epigenetic regulation in cancer.
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Programmes

Active research programmes

Figure(s) from: "Monoubiquitylation of histone H2B contributes to the bypass of DNA damage during and after DNA replication" — shows H2Bub1 dynamics and chromatin context relevant to DNA‑damage responses and redistribution of H2Bub1 after genotoxic stress.
01

H2Bub1 and chromatin remodelling in response to therapeutic DNA damage

How does H2B monoubiquitination (H2Bub1) redistribute after chemotherapy-induced DNA damage, and how do those changes control expression of genes that determine cell fate?

ChIP-seq / heatmap and UCSC genome-browser panels from the UTS-associated study showing H2Bub1 enrichment at p53 target loci after cisplatin (see Figure 1 and accompanying heatmaps in the article).
02

p53 target‑gene regulation and chromatin control

How does p53 influence H2Bub1 and other chromatin marks to regulate target gene expression after genotoxic stress?

Figures demonstrating p53-dependent changes in H2B monoubiquitination at the SLC7A11 regulatory region and functional links to ferroptosis (see Figure 4 and related panels in the article).
03

H2Bub1 loss, chromatin accessibility and ovarian cancer progression

What role does early loss of H2Bub1 play in ovarian tumour evolution, immune microenvironment changes and clinical outcome?

Figure(s) from: "Functional Analysis of Non-Genetic Resistance to Platinum in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Reveals a Role for the MBD3-NuRD Complex in Resistance Development" — figures describing chromatin-mediated mechanisms associated with platinum resistance and candidate chromatin regulators.
04

Mechanisms of drug resistance: links between DDR, chromatin and chemotherapy response

Which chromatin‑mediated mechanisms enable ovarian cancer cells to resist platinum‑based chemotherapy, and can these be targeted to restore sensitivity?

Selected publications

Recent and defining work

2020

Ubiquitin chromatin remodelling after DNA damage is associated with the expression of key cancer genes and pathways

Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences

↗2020

Histone Monoubiquitination in Chromatin Remodelling: Focus on the Histone H2B Interactome and Cancer

Cancers (Basel)

↗2018

H2Bub1: Guardian of chromatin accessibility in ovarian cancer

Oncogenesis / related review

↗2014

Histones and their modifications in ovarian cancer - drivers of disease and therapeutic targets

Frontiers in Oncology

↗2024

Monoubiquitinated H2B, a main chromatin target of formaldehyde, is important for S-phase checkpoint signaling and genome stability

Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences / NCBI PMC

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