Regulation of the quality of DNA repair by timing in the cell cycle

在对感染或免疫的反应中，产生抗体的B细胞以极高的速度突变其抗体基因。改善抗体的罕见突变是通过B细胞之间的竞争选择的，这些B细胞倾向于产生最好的抗体：达尔文进化论的极端快进。我们的目标是了解这一过程，因为它对正常免疫和有效疫苗接种至关重要，而且当它出错时，它可能导致侵袭性人类癌症。

During responses to infection or immunisation, antibody-producing _B� cells mutate their antibody genes at extreme rates. Rare mutations which improve the antibodies are selected by competition between B cells favouring those which make the best antibodies: Darwinian evolution on extreme _fast-forward�. We aim to understand this process because it is essential for normal immunity and effective vaccination, and because when it goes wrong, it can cause aggressive human cancers.