Update! Watch the recording of this talk.
This talk is an activity from the FEBS Junior Section, an initiative set up by students and young researchers from some of the FEBS Constituent Societies. Each month members of the FEBS Junior Section organize an online event on either a research or a career topic. This talk was coordinated by MBKE Junior Section, the junior section of the Hungarian Biochemical Society (MBKE).
- Speaker: Dr Tibor Pankotai, from the University of Szeged and group leader at the Hungarian Centre of Excellence for Molecular Medicine (HCEMM) in Szeged, Hungary
- Topic: "From DNA damage to cancer diagnostics: from a basic research project to a diagnostics and therapeutic application"
- Date and time: 11 September 2025, 19:00 CEST
Participants will have the opportunity to stay for an after-talk hangout to have an informal chat with the speaker, members of the FEBS Junior Section, and other participants.
Biosketch
Dr Tibor Pankotai completed his PhD in 2007 at the University of Szeged (Hungary), where he studied ADA2b-containing histone acetyltransferase complexes in Drosophila. He worked as a research associate in Dr Imre Boros's MTA group and later joined Evi Soutoglou's Genome Integrity team at IGBMC. He was awarded postdoctoral fellowships from FRM and La Ligue contre le Cancer. Currently, Dr Pankotai leads a 10-member Genome Integrity and DNA Repair group with laboratories at HCEMM and the University of Szeged. His research focuses on DNA damage responses, transcription-coupled repair, chromatin dynamics, and diagnostic biomarker development. He serves as PI or co-PI on several national and EU-funded grants and has established strong clinical collaborations, which have resulted in over 60 Q1/D1 publications. His recent work addresses DNA damage-induced RNAPII degradation, chromatin-linked biomarkers, and miRNA-based liquid biopsy diagnostics for breast cancer and early tumour detection.
Abstract
Fundamental research on DNA double-strand break repair and transcriptional silencing has uncovered unexpected connections between genome integrity, RNA metabolism, and cancer biology. Our work explores how ubiquitylation and degradation of RNA polymerase II orchestrate transcriptional responses to DNA damage, and how damage-induced small RNAs contribute to chromatin regulation and intercellular communication. In parallel, we investigate subtype-specific microRNA signatures, acting as DNA damage regulators in diverse cancers, by integrating next-generation sequencing, mass spectrometry, and bioinformatics. These studies not only advance our mechanistic understanding of genome maintenance but also open translational avenues. By developing blood-based miRNA panels and identifying ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitylases as potential biomarkers, we demonstrate how molecular insights can be transformed into diagnostic and therapeutic applications. This trajectory illustrates how curiosity-driven basic science can evolve into innovative tools for early cancer detection and personalized treatment strategies.
The FEBS Junior Section
Want to join this platform for young European life scientists? Learn more about our initiative, check out the Room for the FEBS Junior Section and – if you do not have a junior section yet – read this post about how to set one up!
Photo from HCEMM website.