Rate My Professor Edward Motea

Edward A. Motea, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Indiana University School of Medicine, with affiliations including the Indianapolis and Lafayette campuses. He earned a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 2012, with his doctoral thesis titled "Probing the Chemistry and Enzymology of Translesion DNA Synthesis: Applications in Developing a Novel Theranostic Agent against Leukemia." He joined Indiana University School of Medicine in November 2017 and is a member of the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, located at 980 West Walnut Street, R3-C551, Indianapolis, IN 46202.

Motea's research focuses on DNA replication fidelity, translesion DNA synthesis, DNA repair pathways, genomic instability, and targeted cancer therapeutics. His investigations include NQO1-bioactivatable drugs for tumor-selective PARP inhibition and radiosensitization, R-loop-induced instability via Kub5-Hera/RPRD1B deficiency, synthetic lethality with PARP1 inhibition, and combined inhibition of Ref-1 and STAT3 in cancer models. He has co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles, including "Evaluating the Therapeutic Potential of a Non-Natural Nucleotide That Inhibits Human Ribonucleotide Reductase" (2012), "Replication of a Universal Nucleobase Provides Unique Insight into the Role of Entropy During DNA Polymerization and Pyrophosphorolysis" (2010), "Development and Characterization of a Non-Natural Nucleoside that Displays Anti-Cancer Activity Against Solid Tumors" (2013), "Leveraging an NQO1 Bioactivatable Drug for Tumor-Selective Use of Poly(ADP-ribose) Polymerase Inhibitors" (2016), "Inhibiting translesion DNA synthesis as an approach to combat drug resistance to DNA damaging agents" (2017), "Kub5-Hera RPRD1B Deficiency Promotes 'BRCAness' and Vulnerability to PARP Inhibition in BRCA-proficient Breast Cancers" (2018), "Combined inhibition of Ref-1 and STAT3 leads to synergistic tumour inhibition in multiple cancers using 3D and in vivo tumour co-culture models" (2020), and "Therapeutic Strategies and Biomarkers to Modulate PARP Activity for Targeted Cancer Therapy" (2020). His publications have received 973 citations. In 2019, he was awarded the Showalter Young Investigator Award by Indiana University School of Medicine.