Farjana J Fattah

Farjana Jahan Fattah received her MS and BS (honors) degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Farjana completed her PhD research in April, 2009 in the laboratory of Dr. Eric A. Hendrickson in the BMBB program.  Research in the Hendrickson laboratory focused on DNA double-strand break repair mechanisms in human cells.  During her graduate studies Farjana helped elucidate the role of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) genes in DNA repair, DNA recombination and telomere maintenance.  She chose to utilize recombinant adeno-associated virus to functionally inactivate NHEJ genes in human somatic cell lines.  Along the way, Farjana unexpectedly discovered that inactivation of the DNA repair gene, Ku70, leads to a greatly enhanced frequency of gene targeting in human somatic cells.  Her studies will improve the possibilities of gene therapy by gene targeting.

Awards and Honors:

• Selected to attend the Third Annual NIH National Graduate Student Research Festival September 11 - 12, 2008 on the main campus of the NIH in Bethesda, MD.
• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship - University of Minnesota Graduate School, 2008-2009.
• Thomas Reid Award, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics, 2008.
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scholar-in-Training Award, 2007.

Thesis Publications:

Fattah FJ, Lee EH, Weisensel NA, Lichter NL , Hendrickson EA.  Ku regulates the pathway choice of non-homologous end joining in human somatic cells.  (Manuscript in preparation).

Fattah FJ, Wang Y, Weisensel NA, Hendrickson EA. XLF is necessary for cell proliferation, non-homologous end joining and V(D)J recombination in human somatic cells.  (Manuscript in preparation).

Fattah FJ*, Lee EH*, Weisensel NA, Lichter NL, Hendrickson EA. The absence or inhibition of DNA-PK_cs increases the frequency of rAAV-mediated gene targeting in human somatic cells.  (* Denotes equal authorship).  (Manuscript in preparation).

Fattah FJ, Lichter NL, Fattah KR, Oh S, Hendrickson EA. 2008. Ku70, an essential gene, modulates the frequency of rAAV-mediated gene targeting in human somatic cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 105: 8703-8708. This paper was cited as a Research Item of Note in Nature Structural Molecular Biology, 2008, 15:699.