Nicholas E. Geacintov

B.S. in Physical and Polymer Chemistry, SUNY

M.S. in Physical and Polymer Chemistry, Syracuse University

Ph.D. in Physical and Polymer Chemistry, Syracuse University

Postdoctoral research at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute

The overall objective is to understand the mechanisms and consequences of damage in DNA, either free or wrapped around histone octamers in nucleosomes, induced by environmental contaminants and other reactive chemical species employing well defined model systems.

American Chemical Society

American Physical Society

American Association for the Advancement of Science

American Association for Cancer Research

Russian Academy of Sciences

President, American Society for Photobiology (1994, 1995)

Foreign Member, Russian Academy of Sciences (1994)

Fellow, American Physical Society (1978)

Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2010)

Margaret and Herman Sokol Faculty Award for Excellence in the Sciences, NYU (2007)

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(2012)

American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Toxicology Founder’s Award with co-recipient Prof. Suse Broyde of NYU Department of Biology (2016)

Mu H, Zhang Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Lesion sensing during initial binding by yeast XPC/Rad4: toward predicting resistance to nucleotide excision repair. Chem Res Toxicol. 2018 Oct 4. doi: 10.1021/acs. chemrestox.8b00231. [Epub ahead of print]PMID: 3028444. Editor’s Choice selection. 

Mu H, Geacintov NE, Broyde S, Yeo JE, Schärer OD.Molecular basis for damage recognition and verification by XPC-RAD23B and TFIIH in nucleotide excision repair. DNA Repair (Amst). 2018 Aug 23. pii: S1568-7864(18)30170-8. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2018.08.005. [Epub ahead of print] PMID:3017430 

Cai Y, Fu I, Geacintov NE, Zhang Y, Broyde S. Synergistic effects of H3 and H4 nucleosome tails on structure and dynamics of a lesion-containing DNA: Binding of a displaced lesion partner base to the H3 tail for GG-NER recognition. DNA Repair (Amst). 2018 May;65:73-78. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep.2018.02.009. PMID: 29631253 

Merta TJ, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Generation of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine in G-Quadruplexes Models of Human Telomere Sequences by One-electron Oxidation. Photochem Photobiol. 2018 Apr 21. doi: 10.1111/php.12926. PMID: 29679477 

Cai Y, Fu I, Geacintov NE, Zhang Y, Broyde S. Synergistic effects of H3 and H4 nucleosome tails on structure and dynamics of a lesion-containing DNA: Binding of a displaced lesion partner base to the H3 tail for GG-NER recognition. DNA Repair (Amst). 2018 May;65:73-78. doi: 10.1016/j.dnarep. 2018.02.009. Epub 2018 Mar 8. PMID: 29631253 

Mutational signatures reveal the role of RAD52 in p53-independent p21-driven genomic instability. Galanos P, Pappas G, Polyzos A, Kotsinas A, Svolaki I, Giakoumakis NN, Glytsou C, Pateras IS, Swain U, Souliotis VL, Georgakilas AG, Geacintov N, Scorrano L, Lukas C, Lukas J, Livneh Z, Lygerou Z, Chowdhury D, Sørensen CS, Bartek J, Gorgoulis VG. Genome Biol. 2018 Mar 16;19(1):37. doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1401-9. PMID: 29548335 

Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Repair-Resistant DNA Lesions.  Chem Res Tox2017 Jul 27. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 28750166

Kolbanovskiy M, Chowdhury MA, Nadkarni A, Broyde S, Geacintov NE, Scicchitano DA, Shafirovich V. The Nonbulky DNA Lesions Spiroiminodihydantoin and 5-Guanidinohydantoin Significantly Block Human RNA Polymerase II Elongation in Vitro.  Biochemistry. 2017 Jun 20;56(24):3008-3018. PMID: 28514164

Mu H, Geacintov NE, Min JH, Zhang Y, Broyde S. Nucleotide Excision Repair Lesion-Recognition Protein Rad4 Captures a Pre-Flipped Partner Base in a Benzo[a]pyrene-Derived DNA Lesion: How Structure Impacts the Binding Pathway.  Chem Res Toxicol. 2017 Jun 19;30(6):1344-1354. PMID: 28460163

Shafirovich V, Geacintov NE. Removal of oxidatively generated DNA damage by overlapping repair pathways.  Free Radic Biol Med. 2017 Jun;107:53-61. Review. PMID: 27818219

Fu I, Cai Y, Geacintov NE, Zhang Y, Broyde S. Nucleosome Histone Tail Conformation and Dynamics: Impacts of Lysine Acetylation and a Nearby Minor Groove Benzo[a]pyrene-Derived Lesion. Biochemistry. 2017 Mar 22. PubMed PMID: 28304160.

Lee YA, Lee YC, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Translesion synthesis past guanine(C8)-thymine(N3) intrastrand cross-links catalyzed by selected A- and Y-family polymerases. Mol Biosyst. 2016 May 24;12(6):1892-900.

Purohit NK, Robu M, Shah RG, Geacintov NE, Shah GM. Characterization of the interactions of PARP-1 with UV-damaged DNA in vivo and in vitro. Science Repts. 2016 Jan 12;6:19020.

Shafirovich V, Kropachev K, Anderson T, Liu Z, Kolbanovskiy M, Martin BD, Sugden K, Shim Y, Chen X, Min JH, Geacintov NE. Base and Nucleotide Excision Repair of Oxidatively Generated Guanine Lesions in DNA. J Biol Chem. 2016 Mar 4;291(10):5309-19.

Fu I, Cai Y, Zhang Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Entrapment of a Histone Tail by DNA Lesion in a Nucleosome Suggests the Lesion Impacts Epigenetic Marking: A Molecular Dynamics Study. Biochemistry. 2016 Jan 19;55(2):239-42.

Nadkarni A, Burns JA, Gandolfi A, Chowdhury MA, Cartularo L, Berens C, Geacintov NE, Scicchitano DA. Nucleotide Excision Repair and Transcription-coupled DNA Repair Abrogate the Impact of DNA Damage on Transcription. J Biol Chem. 2016 Jan 8;291(2):848-61.

Nadkarni A, Burns JA, Gandolfi A, Chowdhury MA, Cartularo L, Berens C, Geacintov NE, Scicchitano DA. Nucleotide Excision Repair and transcription-coupled DNA Repair Abrogate the Impact of DNA Damage on Transcription. J Biol Chem. 2016 Jan 8;291(2):848-61. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M115.685271. Epub 2015 Nov 11. PubMed PMID: 26559971; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4705403.

Liu Z, Ding S, Kropachev K, Jia L, Amin S, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Correction: Resistance to Nucleotide Excision Repair of Bulky Guanine Adducts Opposite Abasic Sites in DNA Duplexes and Relationships between Structure and Function. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 29;10(10):e0142068. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142068. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 26512721; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4626036.

Liu Z, Ding S, Kropachev K, Jia L, Amin S, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Resistance to Nucleotide Excision Repair of Bulky Guanine Adducts Opposite Abasic Sites in
DNA Duplexes and Relationships between Structure and Function. PLoS One. 2015 Sep 4;10(9):e0137124. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2015;10(10):e0142068. Lei, Jia [corrected to Jia, Lei]. PubMed PMID: 26340000; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4560436.

Shriber P, Leitner-Dagan Y, Geacintov N, Paz-Elizur T, Livneh Z. DNA sequence context greatly affects the accuracy of bypass across an ultraviolet light 6-4 photoproduct in mammalian cells. Mutat Res. 2015 Oct;780:71-6. doi: 10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2015.08.002. Epub 2015 Aug 13. PubMed PMID: 26302378.

Mu H, Geacintov NE, Zhang Y, Broyde S. Recognition of Damaged DNA for Nucleotide Excision Repair: A Correlated Motion Mechanism with a Mismatched cis-syn Thymine Dimer Lesion. Biochemistry. 2015 Sep 1;54(34):5263-7. PubMed PMID: 26270861; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4748833.

Cai Y, Kropachev K, Terzidis MA, Masi A, Chatgilialoglu C, Shafirovich V, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Differences in the Access of Lesions to the Nucleotide Excision Repair Machinery in Nucleosomes. Biochemistry. 2015 Jul 14;54(27):4181-5. PubMed PMID: 2609101

Talhaoui I, Shafirovich V, Liu Z, Saint-Pierre C, Akishev Z, Matkarimov BT, Gasparutto D, Geacintov NE, Saparbaev M. Oxidatively Generated Guanine(C8)-Thymine(N3) Intrastrand Cross-links in Double-stranded DNA Are Repaired by Base Excision Repair Pathways. J Biol Chem. 2015 Jun 5;290(23):14610-7. PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4505527.

Cohen IS, Bar C, Paz-Elizur T, Ainbinder E, Leopold K, de Wind N, Geacintov N, Livneh Z. DNA lesion identity drives choice of damage tolerance pathway inmurine cell chromosomes. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015 Feb 18;43(3):1637-45. PubMed PMID: 25589543; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4330363.

Ziv O, Zeisel A, Mirlas-Neisberg N, Swain U, Nevo R, Ben-Chetrit N, Martelli MP, Rossi R, Schiesser S, Canman CE, Carell T, Geacintov NE, Falini B, Domany E, Livneh Z. Identification ofnovel DNA-damage tolerance genes reveals regulationof translesion DNA synthesis by nucleophosmin. Nature Communications. 2014, 5:5437.

Uvaydov Y, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Generation of guanine-amino acid cross-links by a free radical combination mechanism. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2014,16(23):11729-36.

Lee YC, Cai Y, Mu H, Broyde S, Amin S, Chen X, Min JH, Geacintov NE. The relationships between XPC binding to conformationally diverse DNA adducts and their excision by the human NER system: is there a correlation? DNA Repair (Amst). 2014, 19:55-63.

Rokhlenko Y, Cadet J, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Mechanistic aspects of hydration of guanine radical cations in DNA. J Am Chem Soc. 2014,136(16):5956-62.

Rodríguez FA, Liu Z, Lin CH, Ding S, Cai Y, Kolbanovskiy A, Kolbanovskiy M, Amin S, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Nuclear magnetic resonance studies of an N2-guanine adduct derived from the tumorigen dibenzo[a,l]pyrene in DNA: impact of adduct stereochemistry, size, and local DNA sequence on solution conformations. Biochemistry. 2014, 53(11):1827-41.

Kropachev K, Ding S, Terzidis MA, Masi A, Liu Z, Cai Y, Kolbanovskiy M, Chatgilialoglu C, Broyde S, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Structural basis for the recognition of diastereomeric 5',8-cyclo-2'-deoxypurine lesions by the human nucleotide excision repair system. Nucleic Acids Res. 2014, 42(8):5020-32.

Cadet J, Wagner JR, Shafirovich V, Geacintov NE. One-electron oxidation reactions of purine and pyrimidine bases in cellular DNA. Int J Radiat Biol. 2014, 90(6):423-32. 2

Cai Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Ribonucleotides as nucleotide excision repair substrates. DNA Repair (Amst). 2014 Jan;13:55-60. PMID: 24290807.

Human DNA polymerases catalyze lesion bypass across benzo[a]pyrene-derived DNA adduct clustered with an abasic site. Starostenko LV, Rechkunova NI, Lebedeva NA, Kolbanovskiy A, Geacintov NE, Lavrik OI. DNA Repair (Amst). 2014 Dec;24:1-9. PMID: 25460917

Cadet J, Wagner JR, Shafirovich V, Geacintov NE. One-electron oxidation reactions of purine and pyrimidine bases in cellular DNA. Int J Radiat Biol. 2013 Dec 26. [Epub ahead of print]

Krzeminski J, Kropachev K, Reeves D, Kolbanovskiy A, Kolbanovskiy M, Chen KM, Sharma AK,Geacintov N, Amin S, El-Bayoumy K. (2013). Adenine-DNA adduct derived from the nitroreduction of 6-nitrochrysene is more resistant to nucleotide excision repair than guanine-DNA adducts. Chem Res Toxicol. 26(11):1746-54.

Mu H, Kropachev K, Chen Y, Zhang H, Cai Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. (2013) Role of structural and energetic factors in regulating repair of a bulky DNA lesion with different opposite partner bases. Biochemistry 52(33):5517-21.

Cai Y, Zheng H, Ding S, Kropachev K, Schwaid AG, Tang Y, Mu H, Wang S, Geacintov NE, Zhang Y, Broyde S. (2013) Free energy profiles of base flipping in intercalative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-damaged DNA duplexes: energetic and structural relationships to nucleotide excision repair susceptibility. Free energy profiles of base flipping in intercalative polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-damaged DNA duplexes: energetic and structural relationships to nucleotide excision repair susceptibility. Chem Res Toxicol. 26(7):1115-25.

Madugundu GS, Wagner JR, Cadet J, Kropachev K, Yun BH, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. (2013) Generation of Guanine-thymine cross-links in human cells by one-electron oxidation mechanisms. Chem Res Toxicol. 26(7):1031-3.

Kropachev K, Kolbanovskiy M, Liu Z, Cai Y, Zhang L, Schwaid AG, Kolbanovskiy A, Ding S, Amin S, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. (2013) Adenine-DNA adducts derived from the highly tumorigenic Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene are resistant to nucleotide excision repair while guanine adducts are not. Chem Res Toxicol. 20: 26(5):783-93.

Khutsishvili I, Zhang N, Marky LA, Crean C, Patel DJ, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. (2013) Thermodynamic profiles and nuclear magnetic resonance studies of oligonucleotide 3 duplexes containing single diastereomeric spiroiminodihydantoin lesions. Biochemistry 26:52(8):1354-63.

Cai Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. (2013) Ribonucleotides as nucleotide excision repair substrates. DNA Repair (Amst), 13:55-60.

Izhar L, Ziv O, Cohen IS, Geacintov NE, Livneh Z. (2013) Genomic assay reveals tolerance of DNA damage by both translesion DNA synthesis and homology-dependent repair in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 16: 110(16):E1462-9.

Lim KS, Taghizadeh K, Wishnok JS, Babu IR, Shafirovich V, Geacintov NE, Dedon PC. Sequence-dependent variation in the reactivity of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2’-deoxygaunosine toward oxidation. Chem Res Toxicol. 2012 Feb 20;25(2):366-73.

Tang Y, Liu Z, Ding S, Lin CH, Cai Y, Rodriguez FA, Sayer JM, Jerina DM, Amin S, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Solution Structure of an N(2)-Guanine DNA Adduct Derived from the Potent Tumorigen Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene: Intercalation from the Minor Groove with Ruptured Watson-Crick Base Pairing. Biochemistry. 2012, 51(48):9751-62. PubMed PMID: 23121427.

Minero AS, Lukashevich OV, Cherepanova NA, Kolbanovskiy A, Geacintov NE, Gromova ES. Probing murine methyltransfease Dnmt3a interactions with benzo[a]pyrene-modified DNA by fluorescence methods. FEBS J. 2012, 279(20):3965-80. PubMed PMID: 22913541.

Mu H, Kropachev K, Wang L, Zhang L, Kolbanovskiy A, Kolbanovskiy M, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Nucleotide excision repair of 2-acetylaminofluorene- and 2-aminofluorene-(C8)-guanine adducts: molecular dynamics simulations elucidate how lesion structure and base sequence context impact repair efficiencies. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012, 40(19):9675-90. PMID: 22904073; PMCID: PMC3479214.

Lior-Hoffmann L, Wang L, Wang S, Geacintov NE, Broyde S, Zhang Y. Preferred WMSA catalytic mechanism of the nucleotidyl transfer reaction in human DNA polymerase κ elucidates error-free bypass of a bulky DNA lesion. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Oct;40(18):9193-205. PMID: 22772988; PMCID: PMC3467051.

Liu Y, Liu Z, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Proton-coupled hole hopping in nucleosomal and free DNA initiated by site-specific hole injection. Phys Chem Chem Phys. 2012, 14(20):7400-10. PMID: 22526555.

Rokhlenko Y, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Lifetimes and reaction pathways of guanine radical cations and neutral guanine radicals in an oligonucleotide in aqueous solutions. J Am Chem Soc. 2012, 134(10):4955-62. PMID: 22329445; PMCID:PMC3303975.

Skosareva LV, Lebedeva NA, Rechkunova NI, Kolbanovskiy A, Geacintov NE, Lavrik
OI. Human DNA polymerase λ catalyzes lesion bypass across benzo[a]pyrene-derived DNA adduct during base excision repair. DNA Repair (Amst). 2012, 11(4):367-73. PubMed PMID: 22317757.

Cai Y, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. Nucleotide excision repair efficiencies of bulky carcinogen-DNA adducts are governed by a balance between stabilizing and destabilizing interactions. Biochemistry. 2012, 51(7):1486-99. PMID: 22242833; PMCID: PMC3292408.

Ding S, Kropachev K, Cai Y, Kolbanovskiy M, Durandina SA, Liu Z, Shafirovich V, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Structural, energetic and dynamic properties of guanine(C8)-thymine(N3) cross-links in DNA provide insights on susceptibility to nucleotide excision repair. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012, 40(6):2506-17. PMID: 22135299; PMCID: PMC3315297.

Reeves DA, Mu H, Kropachev K, Cai Y, Ding S, Kolbanovskiy A, Kolbanovskiy M, Chen Y, Krzeminski J, Amin S, Patel DJ, Broyde S, Geacintov NE. Resistance of bulky DNA lesions to nucleotide excision repair can result from extensive aromatic lesion-base stacking interactions.  Nucleic Acids Res. 2011, 39(20): 8752-64.

Liu Y, Reeves D, Kropachev K, Cai Y, Ding S, Kolbanovskiy M, Kolbanovskiy A, Bolton JL, Broyde S, Van Houten B, Geacintov NE.  Probing for DNA damage with β-hairpins: Similarities in incision efficiencies of bulky DNA adducts by prokaryotic and human nucleotide excision repair systems in vitro. DNA Repair (Amst), 2011, 10(7):684-96.

Hendel A, Krijger PH, Diamant N, Goren Z, Langerak P, Kim J, Reissner T, Lee KY, Geacintov NE, Carell T, Myung K, Tateishi S, D'Andrea A, Jacobs H, Livneh Z.   PCNA ubiquitination is important, but not essential for translesion DNA synthesis in mammalian cells.  PLoS Genet. 2011 Sep; 7(9):e1002262.

Lee YA, Liu Z, Dedon PC, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Solvent Exposure Associated with Single Abasic Sites Alters the Base Sequence Dependence of Oxidation of Guanine in DNA in GG Sequence Contexts. ChemBiochem. 2011, 12(11):1731-9.

Cai Y, Wang L, Ding S, Schwaid A, Geacintov NE, Broyde S. A bulky DNA lesion derived from a highly potent polycyclic aromatic tumorigen stabilizes nucleosome core particle structure. Biochemistry, 2011 23;49(46):9943-5. 

Shao J, Geacintov NE, Shafirovich V. Oxidative modification of guanine bases initiated by oxyl radicals derived from photolysis of azo compounds. J Phys Chem B. 2010, 114(19):6685-92. PMID: 20415485.

Rechkoblit O, Kolbanovskiy A, Malinina L, Geacintov NE, Broyde S, Patel DJ.  Mechanism of error-free and semitargeted mutagenic bypass of an aromatic amine  lesion by Y-family polymerase Dpo4. Nature  Struct Mol Biol. 2010 (3):379-88.

Liang J, Zhang J, Zhu L, Duarandin A, Young VG, Geacintov N, Canary JW. Structures, metal ion affinities,  and fluorescence properties of soluble derivatives of tris((6-phenyl-2-pyridyl)methyl)amine. Inorg Chem.  2009, 48(23): 11196-208.

Ziv O, Geacintov NE, Nakajima S, Yasui A, and Livneh Z.  DNA polymerase Zeta cooperates with polymerase Kappa and Iota in translesion DNA synthesis across pyrimidine photodimers in cells from XPV patients. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA  (2009) 106(28):11552-7.

Geacintov, N.E. and Broyde, S., Eds. (2010). The Chemical Biology of DNA Damage.  Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, Germany (449 pages).