Prof. Alberto Martin

Teaching Area:
Immunology
Genetics

Research Interests:
B cell biology. Antibody Generation.

Publications:
Select Publications.

S. Ramachandran, R. Chahwan, R.M. Nepal, D. Frieder, S. Panier, A. Zaheen, D. Durocher, M. Scharff, and A. Martin (2010). The RNF8/RNF168 ubiquitin ligase cascade is required for class switch recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. In Press.

R.M. Nepal, L. Tong, B. Kolaj, W. Edelmann, A. Martin (2009). Msh2-dependent DNA repair mitigates a unique susceptibility of B cell progenitors to c-myc-induced lymphomas. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Vol. 106, p. 18698-703.

D. Frieder, M. Larijani, C. Collins, M. Shulman, A. Martin (2009). The concerted action of Msh2 & UNG stimulates error-prone repair at A:T basepairs in hypermutating B cells. Mol Cell Biol. Vol. 18, p. 5148-57.

A. Zaheen, B. Boulianne, S. Ramachandran, J. Parsa, J. Gommerman, A. Martin (2009). AID constrains Germinal Center size by Rendering B cells Susceptible to Apoptosis. Blood. Vol. 114, p.547-554.

R.M. Nepal, A. Zaheen, W. Basit, L. Li, S.A. Berger, A. Martin (2008). AID and RAG1 do not contribute to lymphomagenesis in Em c-myc transgenic mice. Oncogene. Vol. 27, p.4752-6

S.A. Lee, J.Y. Parsa, A. Martin, M.D. Baker (2007). Preferential integration of plasmid DNA into the immunoglobulin switch m region in hybridoma cells expressing activation-induced cytidine deaminase. Eur J Immunol. Vol. 37, p. 3529-39

M. Larijani, A. Martin (2007). ssDNA structure and positional context of the target cytidine determine the enzymatic efficiency of AID. Mol Cell Biol. Vol. 27, p. 8038-48.

D. Ronai, M.D. Iglesias-Ussel, M. Fan, Z. Li, A. Martin, M.D. Scharff (2007) Detection of Chromatin-Associated ssDNA in Regions Targeted for Somatic Hypermutation. J. Exp. Med. Vol. 204, p.181-190.

E.S. Tang, A. Martin. (2007) Immunoglobulin Gene Conversion: Synthesizing antibody diversification and DNA repair. DNA Repair. Vol. 6, p. 1557-71.

Larijani, A. Petrov, O. Kolenchenko, M. Berru, S. Krylov and A. Martin (2007). AID associates with single-stranded DNA with high affinity and a long complex half-life in a sequence-independent manner. Mol Cell Biol. Vol. 27, p. 20-30.

E.S. Tang, A. Martin. (2006) NHEJ-deficient DT40 cells have increased levels of immunoglobulin gene conversion: Evidence for a double strand break intermediate. Nucleic Acids Research. Vol. 34, p. 6345-51.

M. Larijani, A. Zaheen, D. Frieder, Y. Wang, G.E. Wu, W. Edelmann, A. Martin (2005) Lack of MSH2 involvement differentiates V(D)J recombination from other non-homologous end joining events. Nucleic Acids Research. Vol. 33, p. 6733-6742.

P. Bardwell, C. Woo, K. Wei, Z. Li, A. Martin , S. Sack, W. Edelmann, M Scharff (2003). Altered somatic hypermutation and reduced class switch recombination in Exonuclease 1-mutant mice. Nat. Immunol. Vol. 5, p. 224-229.

A. Martin , Z. Li, D Lin, P. Bardwell, M. Iglesias, W. Edelmann, M. Scharff (2003). ATPase activity of Msh2 is essential for somatic hypermutation at A-T basepairs and for efficient class switch recombination. J. Exp. Med. Vol. 200, p.47-59.

C. Woo, A. Martin , M. Scharff (2003). Induction of somatic hypermutation is associated with modifications in immunoglobulin variable region chromatin. Immunity. Vol. 19, p. 479-489.

A. Martin and M. Scharff (2002) Somatic hypermutation of the AID transgene in B and non-B cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Vol. 99, p. 12304.

A. Martin and M. Scharff (2002) AID and mismatch repair in antibody diversification. Nat. Rev. Immunol., Vol. 2, p. 605.

A. Martin , P. Bardwell, C. Woo, M. Fan, M. Shulman, M. Scharff (2002) Activation-induced cytidine deaminase turns on somatic hypermutation in hybridomas. Nature, Vol. 415, p. 802-806.

Awards, Affiliations, Personal Interests, etc.:
Awards

2004-2014. Canada Research Chair: Tier 2

2008. Canadian Society for Immunology New Investigator Award

2004-2009. CIHR New Investigator Salary Award

2003-2004. Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Career Development Award

2000-2002. Cancer Research Institute Post-Doctoral Fellowship

2000-2002. Harry Eagle Post-Doctoral Fellowship

Professional Research experience

2009 – present. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Associate Professor
Department of Immunology

2008 – present. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Director of the Immunology Specialist Program
Trinity College

2007 – present. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Undergraduate Coordinator
Department of Immunology

2003 – 2009. University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
Assistant Professor
Department of Immunology

2000 – 2003. Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Research Associate
Department of Cell Biology; Laboratory of Dr. M.D. Scharff

1999. University of Toronto,Toronto, Ontario
Post-doctoral Fellow
Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Dr. D.E. Isenman