Research

The Chu Lab has worked on DNA repair, biostatistics, medicine and education.

In nucleotide excision repair of DNA damage, they discovered UV-DDB, a protein that recognizes DNA lesions, and is defective in complementation group E of the disease xeroderma pigmentosum.

In DNA double-strand break repair, they discovered that Ku protein recognizes DNA ends for non-homologous end joining, which protects cells from ionizing radiation and facilitates rearrangement of immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes. They went on to reconstitute the core end-joining reaction with purified proteins.

In biostatistics, the lab and collaborators invented significance analysis of microarrays (SAM), the first rigorous method for analyzing genome-wide transcription profiles.

In medicine, he wrote the first algorithm for 3-D image reconstruction from PET scans, now used for imaging tumors. He invented contour-clamped homogeneous electric fields (CHEF) for separating megabase-size DNA, technology used to clone human genes and track food-borne pathogens. He discovered blood ammonia as a cause of “chemobrain” and collaborated on the invention of a point-of-care ammonia detector, aiming to prevent brain damage.

In education, he created Molecular Foundations, a course for medical students on molecular biology in medicine that includes patient interactions, small group discussions of papers, and on-line videos.