Dr Heidrun Interthal

Heidrun Interthal’s research is focused on the processes of DNA repair. She is particularly interested in the DNA damage caused when DNA-processing enzymes become bound and covalently trapped on a broken strand of DNA, and the pathways by which this damage is repaired. She is currently investigating the DNA repair
protein and cancer drug target Tdp1. She has also become interested in the possibility that Tdp1 could also be a useful drug target for rapidly dividing parasites, such as Trypanosoma brucei which cause African sleeping sickness. Heidrun received her PhD from the University of Bern, Switzerland and was a postdoctoral fellow, and then research assistant professor, at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. She arrived in Edinburgh in 2008.