Laboratory of Thomas Hollis

Structural Biology of DNA Repair

The maintenance of DNA integrity is essential for normal cellular function and for the propagation of the genetic code to successive generations. A variety of endogenous cellular reagents and exogenous toxins are capable of reacting with and modifying DNA. These modifications can pose blocks to replicative DNA polymerases and/or interfere with the binding of regulatory proteins to DNA causing wide spread cellular responses. Repair of lesions in DNA is a critical cellular response mediated by enzymes that can accurately detect, remove and/or correct the damaged bases. Research in the Hollis laboratory focuses on the structural biology of proteins involved in DNA repair. We use a combination of X-ray crystallography, biochemistry and molecular biology to address questions of DNA damage recognition and repair by proteins.

Hollis Lab News

04/2017 Welcome to Theresa Simermeyer, a new graduate student in the lab.


04/2017 Congratulations to Chris Mauney for successfully defending his dissertation!


07/2016 Welcome to William Booth, a new postdoctoral fellow in the lab!


07/2016 Congratulations to Brittney Dodge for being named a fellow on the Microbiology and Immunology Training grant!


07/2016 Congratulations to Ryan Davis for being awarded an American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship!


05/2016 Congratulations to Brittney Dodge for successfully defending your MS thesis! Brittney will continue in the lab as a PhD student.


09/2015 Welcome to Yuri Cabeza and Pablo Martinez! Yuri is a new MCB graduate student and Pablo is a visiting graduate student for the semester from Spain.


07/2015 Congratulations to Ryan Davis for being named a fellow for the Structural and Computational Biophysics Training Grant!


06/2015 Welcome Shilpa Jayarajan. Shilpa is a WFU undergraduate researcher joining us for the summer!


06/2015 Congratulations to Ryan Davis for defending his Masters thesis. Ryan will remain in the lab as a PhD student


05/2013 Congratulations to Lindsey Remington for being awarded the Wake Forest Research Fellowship


09/04/12 Congratulations Dr. Annie Huhn for successfully defending your thesis!!


07/2012 Congratulations Chris Mauney for being awarded support by the NIH training grant in Structural and Computational Biophysics (SCB)


06/2012 Welcome Lindsey Remington
Lindsey is a WFU undergraduate student joining us in the lab

04/2012 Welcome Chris Mauney
Chris is a new graduate student joining the lab

10/2010: Congratulations to Eddie Pryor and Annie Huhn
Graduate students Eddie Pryor and Annie Huhn received departmental awards. Eddie received the Herbert Cheung Award for outstanding senior graduate student, and Annie received the Cowgill fellowship.

8/2010: Congratulations Eddie on your Student Traineeship Award from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

4/2010: Congratulations Nadine Shaban on your Student Travel Award to present at the ASBMB meeting in Anaheim, CA

Selected Publications

Thomas Hollis, PhD, Professor
Department of Biochemistry and Center for Structural Biology
Wake Forest University School of Medicine
Medical Center Blvd
Winston-Salem, NC 27157
Tel (336) 716.0768
Fax (336) 777.3242
Email: thollis@wfubmc.edu,