Susan T. Lovett

Susan Lovett, a pioneer in studying DNA metabolism, has used genetic and biochemical approaches to obtain critical insights into molecular mechanisms of genetic recombination, replication fork repair, DNA repair, and mutagenesis. Lovett's accomplishments include discovering E. coli exonuclease RecJ two other key exonucleases that contribute to repair and mutagenesis. Her proposals concerning mutagenesis at the replication fork by template switching drove the field forward, as has her work on mutations in quasipalindromic sequences. Her work has also demonstrated an increased rate of mutations arising at the replication fork inhibited by the AIDS-drug, AZT and established the basis of AZT resistance.