Dr Helen Bryant is an internationally recognized expert in DNA repair. She began her career as a virologist understanding viral/host interactions during DNA replication. During her post-doctoral studies her focus shifted to mammalian cell replication and it’s interplay with DNA repair pathways. In 2007 she was awarded an RCUK fellowship at The University of Sheffield, UK. In 2012 she was promoted to senior lecturer/assistant professor and is director of the DNA replication and repair lab. She has over 70 publications, including in high impact journals such as Nature, EMBO J, Cancer Research and Nature Communications. Much of her high profile work concerns PARP biology. She was lead author on the paradigm shifting study that first described a synthetic lethal relationship between PARP and BRCA2, followed by identification of a similar relationship with ATM. She has provided important insights into the mechanism of this synthetic lethality. Dr Bryant was also the first to demonstrate that PARG has synthetic lethality with BRCA2 and that differences between synthetic lethality between PARP and PARG exist. Like PARP the future potential of these findings is great.