Suse Broyde

Suse Broyde
Alma mater	Hunter College High School City College of New York Brooklyn Polytechnic
Scientific career
Institutions	New York University Princeton University

Suse Broyde is an American chemical biologist who is a professor at New York University. Her research considers the mechanisms that underpin DNA damage. Broyde is the author of the Wiley textbook The Chemical Biology of DNA Damage.

Early life and education

Broyde moved to New York City in 1940. She was the only child of Jewish-German immigrants who had escaped Nazi Germany. She became interested in science as a child, and was accepted to Hunter College High School at the age of eleven. She was trained in liberal arts alongside science and technology. Broyde earned her bachelor's degree City College of New York, which she referred to as “The Harvard of the poor,”. She moved to Brooklyn Polytechnic for her doctoral research, where she studied physical and biological chemistry. In particular, Broyde was interested in how chlorophylls absorb light. She spent a year at Princeton University, where she first learnt about molecular modelling.

Research and career

Broyde returned to New York City, where she was awarded an National Institutes of Health grant to study carcinogens. In particular, Broyde investigates DNA damage caused by environmental chemicals. She has shown that cancer is initiated through its attack on DNA. Lesions in DNA can be repaired, but can also replicate, generating mutations that start a carcinogenic processes. She makes use of quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics to understand the processes that cause DNA lesions that can trigger cancerous pathways.

Broyde argued that the specific types of DNA damage will determine whether or not it can be repaired. In the case that the DNA is not repaired, the conformation of DNA within a polymerase will determine whether or not normal replication can occur. Broyde has studied the damage caused to DNA by sun light, air pollution, tobacco smoke and barbecue foods.

Awards and honors

• Elected to Sigma Xi
• Association for Women in Science Outstanding Woman Scientist
• Margaret and Herman Sokol Award in the Sciences
• American Chemical Society Toxicology Founder's Award

Selected publications

• M. Cosman; C. de los Santos; R. Fiala; et al. (1 March 1992). "Solution conformation of the major adduct between the carcinogen (+)-anti-benzo[a]pyrene diol epoxide and DNA". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 89 (5): 1914–1918. Bibcode:1992PNAS...89.1914C. doi:10.1073/PNAS.89.5.1914. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 48564. PMID 1311854. Wikidata Q36868866.
• S F O'Handley; D G Sanford; R Xu; C C Lester; B E Hingerty; S Broyde; T R Krugh (1 March 1993). "Structural characterization of an N-acetyl-2-aminofluorene (AAF) modified DNA oligomer by NMR, energy minimization, and molecular dynamics". Biochemistry. 32 (10): 2481–2497. doi:10.1021/BI00061A005. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 8448107. Wikidata Q70597032.
• Cosman M; de los Santos C; Fiala R; et al. (1 April 1993). "Solution conformation of the (+)-cis-anti-[BP]dG adduct in a DNA duplex: intercalation of the covalently attached benzo[a]pyrenyl ring into the helix and displacement of the modified deoxyguanosine". Biochemistry. 32 (16): 4145–4155. doi:10.1021/BI00067A001. ISSN 0006-2960. PMID 8476845. Wikidata Q51653035.
• The chemical biology of DNA damage. Nicholas E. Geacintov, Suse Broyde. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. 2010. ISBN 978-3-527-63011-0. OCLC 676972923.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)

Personal life

Broyde has two children, who are both professors, and seven grandchildren.