The EvansMDS Young Investigator Award will provide me with critical funding for the completion of my proposed research and career development. As I transition to become an independent Principle Investigator, I will continue to determine mechanisms in DNA damage response and to translate my findings into the clinic. Since existing therapies for MDS are still inadequate, our pre-clinical evidence represents a promising therapeutic avenue to exploit the R-loop-associated vulnerability driven by spliceosome mutations in MDS patients. Results obtained from my proposal will not only further our basic understanding of R-loop regulation in MDS, but also provide new therapeutic strategies to treat MDS patients. My overall goal is to develop an “R -loop signature”  for the purpose of diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring in MDS patients.