Claire Georgina Cupples (''nee'' Wilson) is a Canadian

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, fungi, and some types of par ...

. She is a

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

in the Department of

Molecular Biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

and

Biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

. Her research focuses on the causes, consequences and prevention of

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

s in microbes and in humans.

Career

After conducting her postdoctoral at the University of California, Los Angeles, Cupples accepted an assistant professor position at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

in 1989. Her research at Concordia focused on DNA and molecular biology. She stayed in this position until the 1997-98 academic year, when she was appointed acting chair of the Biology Department. By 2002, she was promoted to

Full professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

. In 2003, Cupples accepted a position as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

(UVic). The next year, she received a $292,432 grant to research how cells repair damage to their DNA. She was appointed UVics Acting Dean of Science in 2009. She stayed in her role there until 2010, when she was appointed

's (SFU's) Faculty of Science dean. Three years later, she was nominated for the 2013 YWCA Women of Distinction Award.

Personal life

Cupples met her future husband Will Cupples while conducing undergraduate research at the University of Victoria.

Selected publications

*''Very-Short-Patch Repair in Escherichia coli Requires the dam Adenine Methylase'' *''The Escherichia coli mismatch repair protein MutL recruits the Vsr and MutH endonucleases in response to DNA damage.'' *''Physical and functional interactions between Escherichia coli MutL and the Vsr repair endonuclease.''

References

External links

CV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cupples, Claire Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian microbiologists Place of birth missing (living people) Canadian women academics Canadian women non-fiction writers 21st-century Canadian women scientists University of Victoria alumni Academic staff of the University of Victoria Academic staff of Concordia University Academic staff of Simon Fraser University York University alumni University of Calgary alumni