Speech Title: YEL002 in Health and Sanity
Biography:
Dr. Schiestl earned his Ph.D. in Biology and Genetics in 1983 from the University of Vienna, Austria. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Pathology, Environmental Health, and Radiation Oncology.
He formerly worked at the Harvard School of Public Health as an Assistant and Associate Professor in the Department of Cancer Cell Biology. He is the Director of the UCLA Centre for Environmental Genomics, as well as a member of the UCLA Cancer Centre, the UCLA Centre of Occupational and Environmental Health, the UCLA Interdepartmental Programme in Molecular Toxicology (Faculty Advisory group), and the UCLA ACCESS Graduate Programme steering group.
He is also a member of the Planning Committee for the Environmental Mutagen Society conference, as well as the Chair and Speaker for the Symposium on “Genetic Instability” that will be conducted.
Affiliations:
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Professor, Radiation Oncology, Environmental Health Sciences Member, Genetics & Genomics Home Area of GPB, Immunity, Microbes, and Molecular Pathogenesis Molecular Pharmacology GPB Home Area, JCCC Healthy and At-Risk Populations Programme Area, JCCC Molecular Epidemiology Programme Area, Physics & Biology in Medicine GPB Home Area
PhD Programme in Cellular and Molecular Pathology Faculty
Interests in Research:
The research focuses on gene-environment-nutrition connections in cancer development. Why are certain people susceptible to cancer caused by the environment, and how may diet help to reduce this risk? We employ yeast, mammalian cells, and mice as study organisms. Genetic instability, mutations, DNA single and double strand breaks, DNA repair efficiency, and oxidative DNA damage are the most common endpoints.