Arek Kulczyk
Arek Kulczyk earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge in the UK. At the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, he worked on NMR structure determination of zinc-finger (Zf) domains from DL3 and PARP, the two medically important proteins involved in DNA repair; proteins that function by binding to breaks in DNA phosphodiester backbone. Arek determined a structure of the Zf from DL3 and characterized its interaction with DNA (10). After earning his doctorate degree, he moved to Boston and began postdoctoral studies in the field of DNA replication at Harvard University. Under mentorship of Charles Richardson and in collaboration with Antoine van Oijen, he developed novel single-molecule techniques for monitoring enzymatic activities of the replication proteins (2,4,8). In collaboration with Tom Ellenberger, Arek worked on X-ray structure determination of the replication complexes. Recently, Arek Kulczyk determined a structure of a megadalton-sized bacteriophage T7 replisome using single-particle cryo-EM (1). The structure provides the first detailed snapshot of the entire replisome and reveals fundamental molecular mechanisms for coordination of leading- and lagging-strand synthesis (3,4,6,7,9). In 2013, Arek became an Instructor in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School in Boston; the faculty appointment provides an opportunity to establish an independent research program, which goal is to integrate structural approaches and single-molecule biophysics to understand the role of mitochondrial DNA repair and replication in cancer and neurological disorders. References: (1) Kulczyk, A. W. and Richardson, C. C. (2014), (Submitted); (2) Geertsema, H.J., Kulczyk, A.W. et al. (2014), PNAS, 111, 4073-4078; (3) Kulczyk, A. W. and Richardson, C. C. (2012), PNAS, 109, 9408-9413; (4) Kulczyk, A. W. et al. (2012), J. Biol. Chem., 287, 39050-39060; (5) Loparo, J., Kulczyk, A.W. et al. (2011), PNAS, 108, 3584-3589; (6) Satapathy, A.K., Kulczyk, A.W. et al. (2011). J. Biol. Chem., 286, 34468-34478; (7) Akabayov, B., Kulczyk, A.W. et al. (2011). J. Biol. Chem., 286, 29146-29157; (8) Kulczyk, A. W. et al. (2010), J. Vis. Exp., 23, 37:1689; (9) Qimron, U., Kulczyk, A.W. et al. (2008). Mol. Microbiol., 286, 29146-29157; (10) Kulczyk, A. W. et al. (2004), J. Mol. Biol., 341, 723-738. Contact: arek@hms.harvard.edu;
https://www.linkedin.com/pub/kulczyk-arek/10/881/442