Top 50 Women in CRISPR : Women in CRISPR, Legal Status of Inventions and Declaration of the Heroes in CRISPR
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
2.1.5.6 Top 50 Women in CRISPR : Women in CRISPR, Legal Status of Inventions and Declaration of the Heroes in CRISPR, Volume 2 (Volume Two: Latest in Genomics Methodologies for Therapeutics: Gene Editing, NGS and BioInformatics, Simulations and the Genome Ontology), Part 2: CRISPR for Gene Editing and DNA Repair
Part 1: Top 50 Women in CRISPR : Women in CRISPR
See List, below
Part 2: UPDATED – Status “Interference — Initial memorandum” – CRISPR/Cas9 – The Biotech Patent Fight of the Century: UC, Berkeley and Broad Institute @MIT
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
SOURCE
Part 3: The Heroes of CRISPR
in CELL, December, 2015
Eric S. Lander1,2,3,*
1, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, 415 Main Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
2Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
3Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
*Correspondence: lander@broadinstitute.org
Three years ago, scientists reported that CRISPR technology can enable precise and efficient genome editing in living eukaryotic cells. Since then, the method has taken the scientific community by storm, with thousands of labs using it for applications from biomedicine to agriculture. Yet, the preceding 20-year journey—the discovery of a strange microbial repeat sequence; its recognition as an adaptive immune system; its biological characterization; and its repurposing for genome engineering—remains little known. This Perspective aims to fill in this backstory—the history of ideas and the stories of pioneers—and draw lessons about the remarkable ecosystem underlying scientific discovery.
SOURCE
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.041
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Top 50 Women in CRISPR : Women in CRISPR
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Women in CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing research – List Version 3
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Divaki | Bhaya | Stanford Univeristy | Stanford, CA | USA | Professor | https://dpb.carnegiescience.edu/labs/bhaya-lab |
Evolution and Ecology – microbial diversity – Plant Biology
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Research in my lab is driven by an interest in understanding how photosynthetic microorganisms perceive and evolve in response to environmental stressors, such as light, nutrients and viral attack.We work both with model organisms and with cyanobacteria in naturally occurring communities. Recently,we have started to develop synthetic biology-inspired approaches to use in cyanobacteria.
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Jill | Banfield | University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | USA | Professor | http://nanogeoscience.berkeley.edu | Evolution and Ecology – microbial diversity |
The study system for this project is an aquifer adjacent to the Colorado River in Rifle, Colorado, USA.Research addresses knowledge gaps related to the roles of subsurface microbial communities in biogeochemical cycling. Given the link between the carbon cycle and global climate change, a particular interest in this work is the impact of microorganisms on carbon compounds buried in the terrestrial subsurface, both through respiration and carbon fixation.
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Denis | Bauer |
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)
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Sydney | Australia | Head of laboratory | http://people.csiro.au/B/D/Denis-Bauer.aspx | @allPowerde | Computational biology – Technology development |
Dr. Denis Bauer is the team leader of the transformational bioinformatics team in CSIRO’s ehealth program. Her expertise is in high throughput genomic data analysis, computational genome engineering, as well as Spark/Hadoop and high-performance compute system.
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Pilar | Blancafort | Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research | Perth | Australia | Associate Professor | Cancer biology – Technology Development |
The Blancafort laboratory focuses on the development of novel approaches to target cancers that are currently refractory to treatment and associated to poor outcome, such as triple negative breast cancers and ovarian cancers. At present, there are no targeted approaches to combat these tumors with chemotherapy and radiation the only treatment options. The laboratory generates novel functionalised molecules able to specifically target these tumors with minimal toxicity to normal cells. Our emphasis is in advanced stage metastatic tumors, which quasi invariably develop resistance. Ultimately we wish to revert the behavior of metastatic cells by sensitizing these treatment resistant tumors to chemotherapy regimes.
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Alexa | Burger | University of Zurich | Zurich | Switzerland |
Senior postdoctoral fellow
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http://www.imls.uzh.ch/en/research/mosimann/labmembers.html | @aburger2009 | Zebrafish – Technology development |
CRISPR application in Zebrafish (ribonucleic complex and increase mutation efficiency)
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Emmanuelle | Charpentier | Max Plank Institute | Berlin | Germany | Professor | http://www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/research/regulation_in_infection_biology | Host-pathogens interaction |
Our research relates to the field of Molecular Infection Biology. We are overall interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms governing physiology-, virulence- and infection-associated processes in Gram-positive bacterial pathogens. We use a combination of genetic, genomic, molecular, biochemical, physiological and cell infection approaches to study mechanisms of gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level in horizontal gene transfer, adaptation to stress, physiology or virulence. In particular, we do research on CRISPR, the adaptive immune system that protects bacteria against invading genetic elements; the small regulatory RNAs that interfere with bacterial pathogenicity; protein quality-control that regulates bacterial adaptation, physiology and virulence; and the mechanisms of bacterial recognition by immune cells.
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Sylvia | Comporesi | Kings College London | London | UK | Lecturer | https://silviacamporesiresearch.org/about/ | @silviacomporesi | Bioethics |
I am a bioethicist with an interdisciplinary background in medical biotechnologies, ethics and philosophy. I am a tenured Lecturer (the UK equivalent to Assistant Professor) in Bioethics & Society in the Department of Global Health & Social Medicine (formerly, Social Science, Health & Medicine) at King’s College London, where I direct the Master’s in Bioethics & Society.
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Elena | Conti | Max Plank Institute | Martinsried | Germany |
Group leader and Director
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http://www.biochem.mpg.de/4877968/Research | Structural Biology – RNA biology |
Our group has a long-standing interest in RNA metabolism, with a particular focus on the molecular mechanisms of eukaryotic RNA transport and degradation.
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Jennifer | Doudna | University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | USA | Professor | http://rna.berkeley.edu/index.html | @doudna_lab | RNA biology – Adaptive immunity |
Exploring molecular mechanisms of RNA-mediated gene regulation
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Caixia | Gao | Chinese Academy of Science | Beijing | China | Professor | http://enpcce.genetics.cas.cn/PN/CXG/ACXG/ | Plant biology (Wheat) – Technology development |
The main research goal of our laboratory is to develop high-throughput transgene technologies for common wheat (Triticumaestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays) and other major crops to satisfy the needs of crop improvement and gene discovery.
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Carine | Giovanangeli | Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle | Paris | France | Director of Research | http://biophysique.mnhn.fr/site/Modifications+génomiques+et+réponses+cellulaires | DNA repair mechanisms – Technology development |
Nowadays, we are mainly focusing on novel artificial DNA binding domains, the TALE repeats (transcription-activator like effector) and CRISPR/Cas9 system. We use the CRISPR/Cas or TALE as nucleases (TALEN) to study DNA repair in mammalian cells as well as DNA probes to study genome dynamics (see Repeated DNA sequences and chromatin).
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Natalia | Gomez-Ospina | Stanford Univeristy | Stanford, CA | USA | Clinical Instructor | https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/natalia-gomez-ospina?tab=bio | Stem cell biology – Clinical therapy |
Dr. Gomez-Ospina was born and raised in Medellin, Colombia. She began her undergraduate studies in petroleum engineering at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia before moving to Colorado. She double majored at the University of Colorado Boulder, completing her bachelor’s degree in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology as well as Biochemistry. She graduated summa cum laude and wrote an honors thesis entitled “Role of the quiescent center in the regeneration of the root cap in Zea Mays.” She then completed her combined MD, PhD at Stanford Medical School, where her PhD work focused on understanding the novel functions of voltage-gated calcium channels. Her PhD thesis, “The calcium channel CACNA1C gene: multiple proteins, diverse functions,” was published in Cell. After completion of her dual degrees, she did her preliminary year in internal medicine at Santa Barbara Cottage hospital before starting residency in Dermatology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She completed residency in Medical Genetics at Stanford Hospital and clinics. She is currently doing her post-doctoral research with Dr. Matthew Porteus in Pediatric Stem Cell transplantation, where she is developing a genome editing strategy in stem cells as a curative therapy for metabolic diseases. In addition to her research, Dr. Gomez-Ospina is a clinical instructor in Medical Genetics. For her clinical practice she sees patients with suspected genetic disorders, and is also in charge of the enzyme replacement service for lysosomal storage disorders at Lucile Packard Children’s hospital. She has been the lead author in research studies in The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell, Nature Communications, and American Journal of Medical Genetics.
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Asma | Hatoum-Aslan | The University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa, AL | USA | Assistant Professor | http://bsc.ua.edu/asma-hatoum-aslan/ | @crisprcas10 | Host-pathogens interaction |
Bacterial infectious diseases are a major cause of mortality worldwide. The rise in antibiotic resistant infections, coupled with the sharp decline in the discovery of new and clinically useful classes of antibiotics, underscores an urgent need for alternative strategies to combat bacterial infections. Small noncoding RNA pathways have recently been recognized as important regulators of bacterial pathogenesis, and the challenge lies in gaining a detailed understanding of these processes. My research uses the tools of biochemistry and molecular genetics to unravel the mechanisms of small RNA-mediated pathways and enable the development of novel anti-microbial therapeutics.
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Rachel | Haurwitz | Caribou Biosciences | Berkeley, CA | USA |
President and Chief Executive officer
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http://cariboubio.com/about-us/management-team | Biotech – Technology development |
Rachel is a co-founder of Caribou Biosciences and has been President and CEO since its inception. She has a research background in CRISPR-Cas biology, and is also a co-founder of Intellia Therapeutics. In 2014, she was named by Forbes Magazine to the “30 Under 30” list in Science and Healthcare, and in 2016, Fortune Magazine named her to the “40 Under 40” list of the most influential young people in business. Rachel is an inventor on several patents and patent applications covering multiple CRISPR-derived technologies, and she has co-authored scientific papers in high impact journals characterizing CRISPR-Cas systems. Rachel earned an A.B. in Biological Sciences from Harvard College, and received a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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Sara | Howden | Murdoch Children Research Institute | Melbourne | Australia | Senior Research Fellow | Stem cell biology – Technology development |
Around 10-20% of kidney disease is inherited. In children with kidney disease, this is closer to 50% although in many instances, the disease-causing mutation is unknown, therefore limiting treatment options. In our research group, we investigate the genes required for normal kidney development and what happens as a result of genetic or environmental damage during development. This knowledge is used to try to recreate kidney stem cells. We have developed methods for generating mini-kidneys from human stem cells that represent models of the human organ. We hope to use these mini-kidneys to screen drugs for kidney toxicity, as models with which to understand kidney disease, to generate cells for the treatment of kidney disease and eventually to bioengineer replacement organs.
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Nina | Hoyland-kroghsbo | Princeton University | Princeton, NJ | USA | Postdoctoral fellow | http://molbiolabs.princeton.edu/bassler/members | Host-pathogens interaction |
Research Interest: The global threat of multi-drug resistant bacteria urgently demands alternatives to conventional antibiotics. Two promising alternatives to traditional antibiotics are bacteriophage (phage) therapy and inhibitors of bacterial cell-cell communication, known as quorum sensing (QS). Bacteria in high cell density maximally engage in QS. These cells are particularly vulnerable to phage infections, which could rapidly spread and kill the population. QS-control of antiphage activities would enable bacteria to specifically activate defenses when they are at the highest risk of infection. I am investigating to what extent bacteria use QS to regulate their antiphage defenses. Whereas QS-inhibitory compounds are generally studied for their capacity to inhibit bacterial virulence, I will study whether they additionally have the ability to increase the vulnerability of pathogenic bacteria to phages.
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Danwei | Huangfu | Memorial Sloan Kettering | New York, NY | USA | Head of laboratory | https://www.mskcc.org/research-areas/labs/danwei-huangfu | Stem cell biology – Technology development |
The ability to program naïve cells or to reprogram differentiated cells into particular fates will open the door to the discovery of novel therapeutics for diseases such as diabetes. The goal of my lab is to understand the fundamental principles that govern the identity of a cell, and to use these principles to manipulate cell fates for regenerative medicine. In pursuit of this goal, we employ a variety of approaches including cellular programming and reprogramming through gene transduction, directed differentiation of embryonic stem (ES) cells, chemical screening, mouse genetics, adult tissue injury and regeneration, and tissue/cell transplantation.
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Maria | Jasin | Memorial Sloan Kettering | New York, NY | USA | Head of laboratory | https://www.mskcc.org/research-areas/labs/maria-jasin | DNA repair mechanisms – DSB |
Human chromosomes are constantly assaulted by challenges to their integrity as a result of either environmental agents that damage DNA or from normal DNA metabolism. The failure to repair damaged DNA faithfully is ultimately responsible for many human diseases, especially cancer. This laboratory focuses on the repair of 1 particular lesion in DNA, the double-strand break (DSB). DSBs arise from agents, such as ionizing radiation, and can also occur spontaneously during DNA replication. Our emphasis is on repair of DSBs by homologous recombination, with a particular interest in the role of homologous recombination in maintaining genetic stability. Understanding the repair of DSBs is not only important for basic science and health concerns, but also impacts on molecular genetic manipulations of mammalian genomes
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Josephin | Johnston | The Hasting Centre | Garrison, NY | USA | Director of Research | http://www.thehastingscenter.org/team/johnston/ | @bioethicsjosie | Bioethics |
Josephine Johnston is an expert on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of biomedical technologies, particularly as used in human reproduction, psychiatry, genetics, and neuroscience.
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Helene | Jousset-Sabroux | The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research | Melbourne | Australia | Head of laboratory | http://www.wehi.edu.au/people/hélène-jousset-sabroux |
High Throughput Screening – Technology Development
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The screening laboratory offers a wide range of expertise gained from both industrial and academic backgrounds, resulting in a professional ability to develop high capacity cellular or biochemical assays. We offer liquid handling robotics, plate readers and computing programs to increase the scale and speed of assays, and leverage automation to quickly assess the activity of a large number of compounds.
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tamsin | Lannagan | University of Adelaide | Adelaide | Australia |
Senior postdoctoral fellow
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Cancer biology – Technology Development |
My role within the group is to develop and assess novel mouse models of colorectal cancer, using colonoscopy techniques that are very similar to patient surveillance in humans. In addition, I am developing an in vitro method of growing mouse and human stem cells from the colon with their associated connective tissue. This will allow us to further investigate these support cells in normal growth and cancer. Both systems will be directly therapeutically relevant, allowing us to assess preclinical targeting of molecular pathways relevant to colorectal cancer.
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Hong | Li | Florida State University | Tallahassee, FL | USA | Professor | http://biophysics.fsu.edu/hongli/ | Structural Biology – RNA biology |
A diverse range of RNA:protein, RNA:RNA and protein:protein interactions occur at the level of transcription and translation as well as post-transcriptional modifications. RNA:protein interactions are particularly interesting not only because they play important functional roles in assembly and biological processes, but also because the rules of their interactions are still poorly understood owing to the scarce structural data. Unlike DNA molecules, RNA can fold into a range of structures for interacting with proteins and small molecules. We hope, by providing exceptionally detailed images of the molecular events along the assembly and functional pathways, to unveil the underlying basis for assembly and functions involving RNA and partner proteins.
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Jennifer | Listgarten | Microsoft Research | Cambridge, MA | USA | Senior Researcher | http://www.jennifer.listgarten.com | Computational biology – Technology development |
My area of expertise is in machine learning and applied statistics for computational biology. I’m interested in both methods development as well as application of methods to enable new insight into basic biology and medicine.
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Shirley | Liu | Dana Farber Cancer Institute – Harvard | Cambridge, MA | USA | Head of laboratory | http://liulab.dfci.harvard.edu | Computational biology – Technology development |
We are developing the computational methods for the design (SSC), analysis (MAGeCK), hit prioritization (NEST), and visualization (VISPR) of genome-wide CRISPR screens. We are also using this technology to identify key genes in breast and prostate tumor progression and drug resistance. We also develop CRISPR screen platforms to understand the functions of enhancers and long-noncoding RNAs, and identify synthetic lethal gene pairs in cancer that leads to optimized cancer precision medicine.
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Anita | Marchfelder | Ulm University | Ulm | Germany | Head of laboratory | https://www.uni-ulm.de/en/nawi/nawi-molbot/research/anita-marchfelder/ | Host-pathogens interaction |
All prokaryotic cells have to fend off foreign genetic elements like for instance viruses. To do that they have developed several different defence strategies. The recently discovered new defence strategy is the so called prokaryotic immune system also called CRISPR/Cas (CRISPR: clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, Cas: CRISPR-associated). It is adaptive, since cells can become immune against new invaders and it is heritable, since the information about the invader is stored in the genome. The CRISPR/Cas system consists of clusters of repetitive chromosomal DNA in which short palindromic DNA repeats are separated by spacers, the latter being sequences derived from the invader. In addition, a set of proteins, the Cas proteins, is involved in this defence reaction. We are investigating the CRISPR/Cas system in the halophilic archaeon Haloferax volcanii. Haloferax encodes a type I-B CRISPR/Cas system with eight Cas proteins and three CRISPR RNAs.
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Karen | Maxwell | University of Toronto | Toronto | Canada | Assistant Professor | http://individual.utoronto.ca/maxwell_lab/ | @theMaxwellLab | Host-pathogens interaction |
The Maxwell lab studies the phages that infect and kill the human bacterial pathogens Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus. Infections caused by these bacteria create a significant disease burden, and the increasing incidence of antibiotic resistant infections caused by these pathogens is one of our most serious health threats.
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Barbara J | Meyer | University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | USA | Head of laboratory | http://mcb.berkeley.edu/labs/meyer/ | Nematode – Technology development |
Targeted Genome-editing Across Highly Diverged Nematode Species. Thwarted by the lack of reverse genetic approaches to enable cross-species comparisons of gene function, we established robust strategies for targeted genome editing across nematode species diverged by 300 MYR. In our initial work, a collaboration with Sangamo BioSciences, we used engineered nucleases containing fusions between the DNA cleavage domain of the enzyme FokI and a custom-designed DNA binding domain: either zinc-finger motifs for zinc-finger nucleases or transcription activator-like effector domains for TALE nucleases (TALENs). In those experiments, we allowed the DNA double-strand breaks to be repaired imprecisely by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) to create mutations in precise locations.
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Shondra | Miller | Washington University | St Louis, MO | USA | Director of Research | http://geic.wustl.edu/technology/ | Stem cell biology – Technology development |
The Genome Engineering and IPSC Center (GEiC) was formed by the consolidation of two pre-existing cores, the Genome Engineering Center and the Induced Pluripotent Stem cell (iPSC) core, both established by the Department of Genetics in the past few years. These two Centers were established to facilitate functional genomic studies through the use of patient-derived iPSCs and the generation of modified cells and organisms using genome editing technologies.
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Hiromi | Miura | Tokai University School of Medicine | Kanagawa | Japan | Assistant Professor | https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hiromi_Miura | Mouse – Technology development | ||
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Kathy | Niakan | The Francis Crick Institute | London | UK | Head of laboratory | https://www.crick.ac.uk/research/a-z-researchers/researchers-k-o/kathy-niakan/ | Stem cell biology – Technology development |
The allocation of cells to a specific lineage is regulated by the activities of key signalling pathways and developmentally regulated transcription factors. The focus of our research is to understand the influence of signalling and transcription factors on differentiation during early human development.
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Kate | O’Connor-Giles | University Wisconson Madison | Madison, WI | USA | Head of laboratory | http://oconnorgiles.molbio.wisc.edu | Drosophila -Technology development |
We are also developing genetic technologies for identifying and gaining genetic control of neuronal subtypes to determine their characterize their roles in neural circuits. Working with the laboratories of Jill Wildonger and Melissa Harrison, we recently adapted the CRISPR/Cas9 system for use in Drosophila. CRISPR is a novel technique that is revolutionizing genome engineering. Developed from bacteria where the CRISPR/Cas9 system functions in acquired immunity, CRISPR technology enables highly efficient and specific editing of targeted genomic sequences – opening the door to routine genome engineering. The many applications of CRISPR technology include modifying the genomes of model organisms to probe gene function, conferring disease resistance to agricultural organisms, and correcting disease-causing mutations in humans. We are capitalizing on this advance to develop novel genome engineering approaches that overcome current technological limitations to understanding neural circuits. Visit our flyCRISPR and flyCRISPR Optimal Target Finder sites for more details on our genome engineering work.
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April | Pawluk | University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | USA | Postdoctoral fellow | http://rna.berkeley.edu/people.html | @AprilPawluk | Host-pathogens interaction |
Bacteria and their cognate viruses, known as bacteriophages, are in a constant battle for survival. Among many mechanisms that bacteria possess to defend against bacteriophage infection, one of the most widespread and sophisticated is the CRISPR-Cas system. Setting CRISPR-Cas apart from other defence systems is the fact that it is an adaptive immunity system: one that can acquire the ability to target newly encountered invaders in a sequence-specific manner. Although much has been uncovered about the targeting mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas systems, very little is known about how they select and capture genetic snapshots of bacteriophages for later use as guides for the “seek and destroy” machinery. I leverage biochemical and structural biology approaches to investigate the CRISPR-Cas adaptation process in detail.
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Jennifer | Phillips | University of Oregon | Eugene, OR | USA | Research Fellow | http://zfin.org/ZDB-PERS-040915-1 | @ClutchScience | Zebrafish – Technology development |
Our laboratory studies the molecular genetic basis of human diseases, particularly Usher syndrome, the leading cause of combined deafness and blindess, and other diseases of the eye and ear.
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Wenning | Qin | Biogen inc | Cambridge, MA | USA | Director of Research | https://www.biogen.com | @wenningqin | Mouse – Technology development |
Wenning has been focusing on and exploring into genetic engineering technologies in her entire professional career. Her association includes Monsanto Biosciences, Pharmacia Corporation, Pfizer Incorporated and the Jackson Laboratory. She currently directs the Genetically Engineered Models group of Biogen, leveraging into genetic engineering to advance drug discovery pipeline for Biogen. Over the years, she acquired extensive knowledge and experience in design and creation of genetically engineered models, using random transgenesis, conventional gene targeting as well as CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
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Rakhi | Rajan | The University of Oklahoma | Norman, OK | USA | Assistant Professor | http://www.ou.edu/cas/chemistry/directory/faculty/rakhi-rajan.html | RNA biology – Adaptive immunity |
Protein-nucleic acid interactions are key to fundamental life processes such as DNA replication, transcription, recombination, and protein synthesis. Deciphering the mechanism of protein-nucleic acid interactions is invaluable for understanding human disease pathways and infections. The primary focus of my lab is to characterize protein-DNA/RNA interactions structurally, biochemically, and biophysically. The immediate emphasis is the study of the recently discovered bacterial and archaeal immune system, CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats). CRISPR is an RNA-based adaptive immune system that inactivates foreign DNA/RNA entering the cell, based on the sequence similarity of small RNAs, called CRISPR RNA (crRNA) to the invading genetic element. The process requires several proteins called CRISPR associated (Cas) proteins. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has revolutionized the genome editing field due to the ease with which targeted double-stranded DNA breaks can be achieved in cells, using a guide RNA and Cas9 protein. The long-term goals of my laboratory are to understand the role of CRISPR/Cas system in pathogenicity and virulence of bacteria, characterize the mechanism of adaptation of bacteria to phage infection, and to determine the signaling mechanisms of the CRISPR/Cas system. We incorporate molecular biology, biochemistry, X-ray crystallography, and additional biophysical tools to characterize these protein-nucleic acid interactions.
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Dipali | Sashital | Iowa State University | Ames, IA | USA | Assistant Professor | http://www.sashitallab.org | @dsashital | RNA biology – Adaptive immunity |
RNA-protein (RNP) complexes are central to many fundamental processes of gene regulation and genome maintenance in all kingdoms of life. The RNA components of these molecular machines often carry out diverse functions, acting as guide, template, scaffold, or catalyst. Despite this versatility, RNAs require protein partners to function, and the interactions that form between these components often dictate the overall activity of the RNP complex. Our lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the function of RNPs from diverse cellular pathways. To that end, we combine a broad range of biochemical, structural and cellular tools to study RNA and protein structure, interactions and function.
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Nikki | Shariat | Gettysburg College | Gettysburg, PA | USA | Assistant Professor | https://sites.google.com/site/nikkishariat/home-1 | RNA biology – Adaptive immunity |
The Shariat Lab research interests are in prokaryote small RNA regulation and function, specifically in Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPRs). These elements are present in nearly half of all sequenced bacterial genomes and comprise several unique short sequences, called spacers, which are interspaced by conserved direct repeats. Spacers are derived from exogenous nucleic acids, such as bacteriophage genomes and plasmids. The spacers are transcribed into CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs), which are subsequently targeted to complementary nucleic acids, resulting in degradation of the target. Due to acquisition of new spacers, CRISPRs provide a remarkably dynamic adaptive immune system in both bacteria and archaea.
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Bettina | Schmid | Deutsches Zentrum fur Neurodegenerative Erkankungen | Helmotz | Germany | Head of laboratory | https://www.dzne.de/en/sites/munich/research-groups/schmid.html | Zebrafish – Technology development |
Our group uses the advantages of the zebrafish, Danio rerio, as an in vivo model system to address some of the unresolved questions in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD), and Amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
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Kimberley | Seed | University of California Berkeley | Berkeley, CA | USA | Assistant Professor | http://www.kimseedlab.com/#introduction | Host-pathogens interaction |
The ability of V. cholerae to prevent phage predation is critical for its evolutionary fitness and epidemic potential. In turn, as obligate bacterial parasites, phages must co-evolve to overcome this resistance or they will face extinction. Our research is aimed at understanding the bacterial immunity and opposing phage immune evasion strategies at play in this dynamic co-evolutionary arms race. We use comparative genomics and complementary molecular approaches to identify and experimentally validate such strategies in disease associated phage and V. cholerae isolates.
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Kaylene | Simpson | Peter McCallum Cancer Centre | Melbourne | Australia | Associate Professor |
High Throughput Screening – Technology Development
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The Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (VCFG) at Peter Mac offers biomedical researchers Australia-wide the ability to perform novel discovery-based functional interrogation all genes in the genome, or selected boutique collections using multiple platforms including CRISPR/cas9, small interfering RNA (siRNA), micro RNA (miRNA) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) and short hairpin RNA (shRNA).
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Joyce | Van Eyck | Cornell Univeristy | Ithaca, NY | USA | Assistant Professor | http://bti.cornell.edu/explore-bti/directory/joyce-van-eck/#research-overview | Plant Biology (Tomato) – Technology Development |
The focus of research in the Van Eck laboratory is biotechnological approaches to the study of gene function and crop improvement. For our studies, we apply several genetic engineering strategies to two major food crops: potato and tomato. The development of biotechnological techniques has made it possible to design and introduce gene constructs into plant cells and recover plants that express the introduced genes. Genes of interest to us have the potential to strengthen a plant’s resistance to disease, improve fruit characteristics, and enhance nutritional quality.
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Stineke | Van Houte | University of Exeter | Exeter | UK | Research Fellow | http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/people/researchandtechnical/van_houte/ | Host-pathogens interaction |
I am a biologist with a broad interest in host-parasite interactions, from an evolutionary, ecological and molecular perspective. Currently I work as a Marie-Curie fellow in the lab of Professor Angus Buckling on the evolution of immunity against virus infections in Pseudomonas bacteria. My PhD research at the Laboratory of Virology, Wageningen University (the Netherlands) focused on manipulation of host insect behaviour by baculoviruses, insect-specific viruses that cause lethal disease in caterpillars.
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Leslie | Vosshall | The Rockfeller Univeristy | New York, NY | USA | Head of laboratory | http://vosshall.rockefeller.edu | @pollyp1 | Insect – Technology development |
The overall goal of work in our laboratory is to understand how complex behaviors are modulated by external chemosensory cues and internal physiological states. The lab takes a multi-disciplinary approach spanning cell biology, genetics, neurobiology and behavior. Our early focus has been to study how the brain interprets olfactory signals in the environment that signal food, danger, or potential mating partners. We have been studying these problems in three model organisms: the fly, the mosquito and the human. The majority of the early work in the laboratory was carried out in the genetically tractable vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, which displays a rich repertoire of chemosensory behaviors despite having a nervous system with only 100,000 neurons. In this animal, we have studied the functional neuroanatomy of the olfactory system, how this system perceives sex pheromones, and the structure and function of the insect odorant receptors.
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Kan | Wang | Iowa State University | Agron,IA | USA | Professor | http://www.agron.iastate.edu/personnel/userspage.aspx?id=266 | Plant biology (Maize) – Technology development |
As the rapid development in plant genomics research identifies more genes, their functional analysis relies on strategies such as complementation, overexpression, or gene silencing. Plant genetic transformation is a critical technology required in the application of these strategies.
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Rachel | Whitaker | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign | Urbana, IL | USA | Associate Professor | http://www.life.illinois.edu/whitaker/ | Evolution and Ecology – Adaptive immunity |
My lab combines population genomics with laboratory-based genetic and genomic experimental techniques to study the evolutionary ecology of microbial populations. We take a comparative approach, examining interactions within and between species using wild strains from natural populations isolated across spatial and temporal scales. Currently we are working on two critical forces that define the evolutionary process in all organisms: host-virus co-evolution and recombinational gene flow. We have a particular interest in how the unique biology of organisms in the Archaeal domain is reflected in genome architecture and how the CRISPR-Cas immune system functions in microbial populations.
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Susan | Woods | University of Adelaide | Adelaide | Australia | Senior Research Fellow | https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/susan.woods#career | Cancer biology – Technology Development |
Susan’s current project focuses on colorectal cancer. This is the second most common cancer type in Australia, costing us over $1 billion dollars annually. There are minimal effective treatments for advanced disease. The lab has recently identified a new stem cell that gives rise to a layer of cells that support the intestinal lining. We are investigating whether similar support cells can promote the formation of colorectal cancer from cells lining the intestine, and if we can prevent it using a new therapeutic approach.
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Luhan | Yang | eGenesis | Cambridge, MA | USA | Co-founder and CSO | http://www.egenesisbio.com/founding-team.html | Biotech – Technology development |
Luhan is leading the effort to eradicate PERVs from the porcine genome and engineer human compatibility in porcine cells. She previously developed the highly programmable genome-engineering tool, CRISPR/Cas9, for use in mammalian cells, and pioneered the first isogenic human stem cell lines to model human diseases at the tissue level. She was named among the “30 Under 30” in Science and Healthcare by Forbes Magazine (2014) and was a laureate of the “Young Entrepreneur Initiative” competition (2014). Luhan holds B.S. degrees in Biology and Psychology from Peking University and a Ph.D. in Human Biology and Translational Medicine from Harvard Medical School.
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Yan | Zhang | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI | USA | Assistant Professor | https://medicine.umich.edu/dept/biochem/yan-zhang-p | RNA biology – Technology development |
CRISPR-Cas is a RNA-guided, genetic interference pathway in prokaryotes that enables acquired immunity against invasive nucleic acids. Nowadays, CRISPRs also provide formidable tools for facile, programmable genome engineering in eukaryotes. Cas9 proteins are the “effector” endonucleases for CRISPR interference; and have recently begun to be also recognized as important players in other aspects of bacterial physiology (e.g. acquisition of new spacers into CRISPRs, endogenous gene regulation, and microbial pathogenesis, etc.).My laboratory is broadly interested in CRISPR biology and mechanism. We will use Neisseria species as our model system, and E. coli and human cells as additional platforms. We employ complementary biochemical, microbiological, genetic and genomic approaches. We are also interested in working with the broader scientific community to develop and apply novel CRISPR-based tools to tackle diverse biological questions.
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