Dr. Turker received his PhD in Pathology from the University of Washington (UW) and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. He served as a Research Instructor in the Department of Pathology at UW. He went on to the University of Kentucky where he served as an Assistant Professor and Associate Professor in the Departments of Pathology and Microbiology/Immunology and Director, Experimental Pathology. Prior to joining CROET, he was a visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Genetics and Development at Columbia University.

I am interested in the mechanisms of abnormal gene inactivation and the relevance of these events to cancer and aging. Cancer and aging are linked because the incidence of cancer increases as we get older, but the reasons for this link are not understood. One possible mechanism that can explain this link is aberrant gene inactivation, because it is known that gene inactivation plays a critical role in cancer, and it is believed that the frequency of gene inactivation increases as a function of age. Abnormal gene inactivation results from two distinct types of events. The first is DNA mutation, which represents a change in the structure of DNA that alters expression of a given gene. The second type of event is DNA methylation, which causes silencing of a gene without affecting the gene sequence. My laboratory is using the autosomal mouse Aprt gene to study both mutational and DNA methylation events. With regard to mutational events, we are interested in both endogenous and exogenous genotoxins that can affect the frequency and types of mutations that occur within the animal. Our work with DNA methylation focuses on how methylation patterns are formed and on how perturbations of these patterns can lead to silencing of genes.

Turker MS, Lasarev M, Connolly L, Kasameyer E, Roessler D. (2007) Age-related accumulation of autosomal mutations in solid tissues of the mouse is gender and cell type specific. Aging Cell. 2007 Feb;6(1):73-86. Abstract

Connolly L, Lasarev M, Jordan R, Schwartz JL, Turker MS. (2006) Atm haploinsufficiency does not affect ionizing radiation mutagenesis in solid mouse tissues. Radiat Res. 2006 Jul;166(1 Pt 1):39-46. Abstract

Wang Q, Ponomareva ON, Lasarev M, Turker MS. (2006) High frequency induction of mitotic recombination by ionizing radiation in Mlh1 null mouse cells. Mutat Res. Feb 22;594(1-2):189-98. Abstract

Shin CY, Skinner A, and Turker MS (2005) A Role for Pms2 in the prevention of Tandem CC -> TT Substitutions Induced by Ultraviolet Radiation and Oxidative Stress, DNA Repair 4:51-57. Abstract

Amy M. Skinner and Mitchell S. Turker. (2005) Oxidative Mutagenesis, Mismatch Repair, and Aging. Sci. Aging Knowledge Environ., Vol. 2005, Issue 9, pp. re3, 2 March 2005. Abstract Full Text

Breger KS, Smith L, Turker MS, and Thayer MJ.(2004) Ionizing Radiation Induces Translocations with Delayed Replication and Condensation. Cancer Research 64:8231-38. Abstract

Kisby GE, Lesselroth H, Olivas A, Samson L, Gold B, Tanaka K, and Turker MS. (2004) Role of Nucleotide- and Base-Excision Repair in Genotoxin-Induced Neuronal Cell Death, DNA Repair, 3:617-27. Abstract

Turker MS, Schwartz JL, Jordon R, Ponomareva ON, Connolly L, Lasarev M, and Clepper L (2004). Persistence of Chromatid Aberrations in the Cells of Solid Mouse Tissues Exposed to 137Cs-Gamma Radiation. Radiation Research 162:357-64 . Abstract

Breger KS, Smith L, Turker MS, and Thayer MJ. (2004) Ionizing Radiation Induces Translocations with Delayed Replication and Condensation. Cancer Research 64:8231-38. Abstract

Yates PA, Burman RW, Ponomareva ON Simpson J, Thayer MJ, Turker MS. (2003) Silencing of mouse Aprt is a gradual process in differentiated cells. Molecular and Cellular Biology, 23, 4461-4470. Abstract

Turker M.S. (2003) Autosomal mutations in somatic cells of the mouse. Mutagenesis, 18:1-6. Abstract

Shin CY and Turker MS (2002) A:T to G:C Base Pair Substitutions Occur at a Higher Rate than Other Substitution Events in Pms2 Deficient Mouse Cells. DNA Repair, 1:995-1001. Abstract

Shin, C.Y., Mellon, I., and Turker, M.S. (2002) Multiple mutations are common at mouse Aprt in genotoxin-exposed mismatch repair deficient cells, Oncogene, 21:1768-1776. Abstract