Fred Bunz, MD, PhD
Highlights
Languages
- English
Gender
MaleJohns Hopkins Affiliations:
- Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty
About Fred Bunz
Professional Titles
- Director, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center Cell Imaging Core Facility
- Co-Director, Laboratory Training Program in Radiation Oncology
Primary Academic Title
Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Molecular Radiation Sciences
Background
Dr. Fred Bunz is an associate professor of radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His research focuses on cancer genetics.
Dr. Bunz serves as the director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center Cell Imaging Core Facility and the co-director for the Laboratory Training Program in Radiation Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
His team is engaged in studying the signaling molecules and pathways that are activated by DNA damage. The goal of this work is to better understand how current therapies work, and to develop new and improved cancer treatments.
Dr. Bunz earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in the Medical Scientist Training Program at State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook. He completed postdoctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins and Howard Hughes Medical Institution.
Centers and Institutes
Clinical Trials Summary
Learn more about clinical trials at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center.
Additional Academic Titles
Associate Professor of Oncology
Contact for Research Inquiries
Phone: (410) 502-7941
fredbunz@jhmi.edu
Research Interests
Loss of innate immunity during tumorigenesis. Human DNA damage responses and the cellular roles of p53.
Research Summary
Dr. Bunz’s research objective is to understand the genetic basis of common cancers and to determine how recurrent genetic alterations affect treatment with existing and novel therapeutic agents.
Ionizing radiation is a mainstay of therapy for most types of cancer. The DNA strand breaks, crosslinks, adducts and DNA replication intermediates that are caused by ionizing radiation and many other therapeutic agents trigger activation of a complex network of intracellular signaling molecules that ultimately control cell growth and cell death. Employing recently developed technology, the Bunz laboratory studies the signaling molecules and pathways that are activated by DNA damage. The goal of this work is to better understand how current therapies work, and to develop new and improved cancer treatments.
Selected Publications
Bunz F, Kobayashi R, Stillman B. cDNAs encoding the large subunit of human replication factor C. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1993;90(23):11014-11018.
Bunz F, Dutriaux A, Lengauer C, Waldman T. Zhou S, Brown J P, Sedivy JM, Kinzler KW, and Vogelstein B. Requirement for p53 and p21 to Sustain G2 Arrest After DNA Damage. Science. 1998; 282(5393):1497-1501.
Chung JH, Bunz F. Cdk2 is required for p53-independent G2/M checkpoint control. PLoS Genetics. 2010; 6:e1000863. PMCID: PMC2829054
Chung JH, Larsen AR, Chen E, Bunz F. A PTCH1 homolog transcriptionally activated by p53 suppresses hedgehog signaling. J Biol Chem. 2014; 289(47):33020-33031. PMCID: PMC4239647
Wilsker D, Petermann E, Helleday T, Bunz F. Essential function of Chk1 can be uncoupled from DNA damage checkpoint and replication control. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2008;105(52):20752-57. PMCID: PMC2634938