SGC Toronto Chief Scientist

Cheryl H. Arrowsmith Ph.D.

The Chief Scientist for SGC research in Toronto laboratories is Dr. Cheryl Arrowsmith. She is a Professor at the University of Toronto and is also a Senior Scientist at the Ontario Cancer Institute. Her research interests focus on structural and chemical biology of protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions in an effort to understand how they are involved in gene regulation, control of the cell cycle and apoptosis, and how they might be harnessed for therapy. Particular focus is placed on the p53 pathway, Ubiquitylation system, and chromatin biology.

Select Publications

A chemical probe selectively inhibits G9a and GLP methyltransferase activity in cells.
Vedadi M, Barsyte-Lovejoy D, Liu F, Rival-Gervier S, Allali-Hassani A, Labrie V, Wigle TJ, Dimaggio PA, Wasney GA, Siarheyeva A, Dong A, Tempel W, Wang SC, Chen X, Chau I, Mangano TJ, Huang XP, Simpson CD, Pattenden SG, Norris JL, Kireev DB, Tripathy A, Edwards A, Roth BL, Janzen WP, Garcia BA, Petronis A, Ellis J, Brown PJ, Frye SV, Arrowsmith CH, Jin J.
Nat Chem Biol. 2011 Jul 10;7(8):566-74.

Recognition of multivalent histone states associated with heterochromatin by UHRF1 protein.
Nady N, Lemak A, Walker JR, Avvakumov GV, Kareta MS, Achour M, Xue S, Duan S, Allali-Hassani A, Zuo X, Wang YX, Bronner C, Chédin F, Arrowsmith CH, Dhe-Paganon S.
J Biol Chem. 2011 Jul 8;286(27):24300-11.

Recognition and specificity determinants of the human cbx chromodomains.
Kaustov L, Ouyang H, Amaya M, Lemak A, Nady N, Duan S, Wasney GA, Li Z, Vedadi M, Schapira M, Min J, Arrowsmith CH.
J Biol Chem. 2011 Jan 7;286(1):521-9.

Structural basis for recognition of hemi-methylated DNA by the SRA domain of human UHRF1.
Avvakumov GV, Walker JR, Xue S, Li Y, Duan S, Bronner C, Arrowsmith CH, Dhe-Paganon S.
Nature. 2008 Oct 9;455(7214):822-5.

Molecular basis of Pirh2-mediated p53 ubiquitylation.
Sheng Y, Laister RC, Lemak A, Wu B, Tai E, Duan S, Lukin J, Sunnerhagen M, Srisailam S, Karra M, Benchimol S, Arrowsmith CH.
Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2008 Dec;15(12):1334-42.

Human HDAC7 harbors a class IIa histone deacetylase-specific zinc binding motif and cryptic deacetylase activity.
Schuetz A, Min J, Allali-Hassani A, Schapira M, Shuen M, Loppnau P, Mazitschek R, Kwiatkowski NP, Lewis TA, Maglathin RL, McLean TH, Bochkarev A, Plotnikov AN, Vedadi M, Arrowsmith CH.
J Biol Chem. 2008 Apr 25;283(17):11355-63.

Molecular recognition of p53 and MDM2 by USP7/HAUSP
Sheng Y, Saridakis V. Sarkari F, Duan S, Wu T, Arrowsmith CH, and Frappier L.
Nat Struct Mol Biol, 13, 285-91. (2006).