Shu‐Mei Dai

About

Shu-Mei Dai has made foundational contributions to the study of DNA damage and repair at single-nucleotide resolution, with a primary focus on developing and refining ligation-mediated PCR (LM-PCR) techniques. Her most cited work, "Ligation-mediated PCR for quantitative in vivo footprinting" (2000), has garnered 68 citations and established a robust method for quantifying DNA break frequencies in mammalian cells. This technique enables researchers to detect rare lesions—fewer than one per kilobase—with the sensitivity required for precise in vivo footprinting. In a subsequent study (2002), Dai advanced this methodology by integrating robotic liquid handling, significantly improving reproducibility and throughput for large-scale DNA repair analyses. Her work directly addresses the challenge of investigating repair dynamics at nucleotide resolution, a critical need for understanding mutagenesis and genomic stability. By optimizing parameters such as primer design and ligation efficiency, Dai’s innovations have empowered laboratories worldwide to map repair events with unprecedented accuracy. Her contributions remain essential for researchers studying environmental carcinogenesis, chemotherapeutic responses, and the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair pathways.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Ligation-mediated PCR for quantitative in vivo footprinting

   68 citations · 2000
2. 2
   Ligation-Mediated PCR: Robotic Liquid Handling for DNA Damage and Repair

   9 citations · 2002

Key Collaborators

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