Before an audience of senior leaders, research colleagues, trainees, and staff, Dale Ramsden, PhD, received the 2024 Hyman L. Battle Distinguished Cancer Research Award during an Aug. 18 reception in the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center atrium.
Ramsden, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the UNC School of Medicine and a UNC Lineberger member, was recognized for his groundbreaking research on how cells repair DNA double-strand breaks, a critical process for maintaining genome stability and preventing cancer-causing mutations. His lab studies end joining pathways, their role in cancer development and therapy, and their applications in genome engineering.
Established in 2007 by the Battle Foundation of Rocky Mount, the award honors exceptional cancer research at UNC-Chapel Hill and includes a $25,000 prize. It is supported by a permanent endowment through the UNC Health Foundation.
“Dale Ramsden exemplifies the spirit and purpose of the Battle Award,” said Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, UNC Lineberger executive director and UNC Health chief of oncology clinical services. “Beyond his scientific achievements, he is celebrated for his collaborative spirit, entrepreneurship, and dedication to mentorship.”
Ramsden joined UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Lineberger in 1998 as an assistant professor of biochemistry and biophysics and was promoted to professor in 2011. He earned a Bachelor of Science in molecular genetics with honors and a PhD in immunology from the University of Toronto, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry and molecular biology at the NIH under Martin Gellert, PhD.
His lab has shown how the ATM protein detects breaks during V(D)J recombination, a key immune process, and how the Ku protein recruits ligases and polymerases to repair damage, findings with important implications for cancer therapy. In collaboration with UNC Lineberger’s Gaorav Gupta, MD, PhD, and Richard Wood, PhD, of MD Anderson Cancer Center, the researchers identified a polymerase theta–based backup pathway that helps hereditary breast cancer cells survive, suggesting a new treatment target.
In a 2018 Science paper, Ramsden reported that RNA is often used to repair our chromosomal DNA breaks, a surprising discovery that challenged long-held assumptions.
“If you go to the Ramsden Lab website, their motto is, ‘Your genome: You break it. We work to understand how you fix it,’” said Jeannette Cook, PhD, professor and chair of biochemistry and biophysics at UNC School of Medicine. “The Ramsden Lab research is characterized by incisive and creative experimental assays that really get to the heart of the molecular mechanism. They can actually answer what’s directly happening, not just what might be happening.”
Cook also praised Ramsden as an outstanding communicator. “It’s just a lot of fun to hear him talk about his science,” she said, noting his infectious enthusiasm for research.
“So many of Dale’s attributes are what we strive for as a school of medicine: a generous collaborator, a selfless teacher and mentor, and, obviously, an incredible scientist, responsible for work that will make an impact on cancer treatment for cancer patients for years to come,” said Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, MPH, executive dean of the UNC School of Medicine.
UNC Lineberger’s Aziz Sancar, MD, PhD, Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor, Nobel laureate, and one of Ramsden’s nominators, drew laughs from the audience when he joked that he deserved some credit for the award because he helped recruit Ramsden to UNC.
Ramsden expressed gratitude to what he called his “Mount Rushmore” of scientific mentors at UNC—Sancar, Jack Griffin, PhD, Tom Kunkle, PhD, and Jeff Sekelsky, PhD, as well as Gupta, “who’s too young to be on Mount Rushmore,” for helping him keep sight of the bigger picture. He also thanked his current and former lab members for “making this such a fantastic place to do work, to do science, to do this thing that we love.”
He concluded his remarks by thanking his wife, Wendi. “Thank you for having the patience to listen to my rants—especially over the past year and a half, which has been tough—and for appreciating the fact that there’s a time zone you think you’re in, which is Eastern Standard Time … and my time zone, which is usually somewhere between two and six hours later.”