Susan M Rosenberg

Susan M. Rosenberg is a Professor at Baylor College of Medicine, holding academic positions in Molecular and Human Genetics, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and Molecular Virology & Microbiology. She holds the Ben F. Love Chair in Cancer Research and leads the Mechanisms in Cancer Evolution Program at the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Rosenberg’s research focuses on genome instability mechanisms underlying cancer, antibiotic resistance, and evolutionary adaptation. Her work combines genetic, molecular, and computational approaches to study stress-induced mutagenesis in E. coli, revealing pathways that link environmental stress to genomic instability.

Education: BA from State University of New York Potsdam; PhD from University of Oregon; postdoctoral training at University of Paris VII, University of Utah, and National Cancer Institute.

Research interests include molecular mechanisms of stress-induced mutagenesis, antibiotic resistance mutation, spontaneous DNA damage, and the role of conserved proteins (e.g., RecQ helicase) in cancer. Her discoveries include the role of error-prone DNA repair under stress and the formation of 'gambler cells' that drive antibiotic resistance evolution.

Publications highlight her contributions to understanding genome instability in bacteria and human cancer, with recent work on endogenous DNA damage at transcription termination sites and strategies to target antibiotic-induced evolution. Her awards include NIH Pioneer Awards (2009, 2020), AAAS Fellowship, and multiple teaching excellence recognitions.

Rosenberg collaborates across disciplines, bridging microbial genetics to human disease models. Her lab investigates evolutionary mechanisms with implications for cancer therapies and antibiotic resistance.