Suse Broyde is an American chemical biologist who is a Professor of Biology and Affiliate Professor of Chemistry at New York University. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that process DNA damage induced by environmental and endogenous carcinogens, notably mutagenesis and repair.

Early life, education and career

Broyde moved to New York City in 1940.^[1] She was the only child of Jewish-German immigrants who had escaped Nazi Germany.^[1] She became interested in science as a child, and was accepted to Hunter College High School at the age of eleven,^[1] where she received a strong education in the liberal arts, science and mathematics. Broyde earned her Bachelor's degree at the College of the City of New York (CCNY), which has been termed “The Harvard of the poor.”,^[1] from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude, with honors in the Chemistry major. From there Broyde entered the PhD program in Chemistry at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (Brooklyn Poly, now NYU Tandon), where she majored in Physical Chemistry with a minor in Physics; her thesis, in the laboratory of Gerald Oster, investigated the photochemistry and spectroscopy of chlorophylls to elucidate the biophysical basis of photosynthesis. Subsequently she was a Research Scientist at IBM Watson Labs at Columbia University where the work on chlorophylls continued with Biophysicist Seymour Stephen Brody, subsequently recruited by NYU Biology to initiate a Biophysics program focusing on plants and photosynthesis; Broyde joined him in establishing the lab and mentoring students and postdocs. Her first child, Dr. Linda Broyde Haramati (Yale School of Medicine, Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and Chief Mentoring Officer) was born while she was a graduate student and her second child, Michael Broyde, Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law and Director, Doctor of Judicial Science Degree, was born while she was at IBM. Subsequently Broyde was at Princeton University in the laboratory of Robert Langridge where she was introduced to the then infant field of molecular modeling, and focusing on nucleic acid structure. She pursued her study of nucleic acid structure by computer modelling and received her first NIH grant while at the School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology.

Broyde returned to New York University as Research Associate Professor in the Biology Department and became Full Professor with tenure in 1987; at NYU she formed collaborations with Chemistry Department colleagues Robert Shapiro (deceased 2011) and Nicholas Geacintov, who had strong interests in the structure and function of DNA that is damaged by carcinogens, such as those present in tobacco smoke or induced by the ultraviolet light in the sun, using experimental approaches. How such lesions in DNA can be repaired, but can also generate mutations during replication that start the carcinogenic process has been the focus of Broyde's research. Broyde's expertise in computationally addressing this structure-function relationship formed the basis of her research trajectory which has been continuously funded by the NIH. She is author of over 200 published works, as well as the Wiley book The Chemical Biology of DNA Damage with Nicholas Geacintov. Broyde also has a very full teaching docket, focusing on upper level undergraduates with a pre-health concentration and an interest in drug design, as well as literature reading and fundamental biological topics for graduate students. She has mentored many graduate students and post-doctoral associates.

Honors and Awards

Broyde graduated from CCNY, Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. Magna cum Laude and Honors in Chemistry (1958), was elected to Sigma Xi as a Ph.D. student at Brooklyn Poly, received the Outstanding Woman in Science Award from the Association of Women in Science (1996), the NYU Margaret and Herman Sokol Faculty Award in the Sciences (2001), and the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Toxicology Founder's Award with Nicholas Geacintov (2016).

Selected publications

• M. Cosman; C. de los Santos; R. Fiala; et al. (March 1, 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 (March 1, 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. (April 1, 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.^[1]

References