She is known for studying homologous recombination, a method in which double-strand breaks in DNA strands are repaired, and for discovering the role of BRCA1 and BRCA2 in cancers.
[4] In 1990, Jasin joined the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and Cornell University as an assistant professor and Frederick R. Adler Chair for Junior Faculty (until 1993).
[4][5] Currently, she leads her own research group at the Developmental Biology Program in MSKCC,[6] and is affiliated with the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
She showed in 1994 that expressing a restriction enzyme that recognizes DNA sequences uncommon in the target genome, also known as a rare-cutting restriction enzyme, can generate DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) at specific locations, allowing for targeted genome editing.
[9] Her key study in 1998 found that DNA double strand breaks increases the likelihood of homologous recombination by 1000 folds.