Rapid Assessment of CRISPR Genome EditingAugust 3, 2014Well begun is half done. But if you are making a CRISPR knock-out mouse, it is hard to tell early enough whether you’ve begun well. Thankfully, a talented team of researchers in Japan led by Takayuki Sakurai have now optimized an assay that helps you do just that – predict if you are on the […]
The Long and Short of It: ZFNs are Choosey About Repeat LengthAugust 2, 2014In a classic switcheroo, a talented research team led by ChongHua Ren inserted a repeat-flanked Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) binding site right in the middle of the transcription factor Gal4, shifting control of Gal4 expression to capricious homologous recombination events. ZFNs edit the genome at specific locations by cutting DNA at the endonuclease site. When […]
Editor in Chief: TALEN, CRISPR and the iPSC GenomeAugust 2, 2014Undeniably, the future of therapeutics is moving away from panacea miracle drugs and gravitating towards personalized treatments using gene therapy. Furthermore, the discovery of iPSCs verified the idea that individuals could have their own stem cell line available for therapeutic purposes—therapies that are made possible by editing the genome of iPSCs. Transcription activator-like effector (TALEN) and […]
CRISPR Paves the Way for Large Fragment Genome EditingAugust 1, 2014Traditional large genome editing techniques employ indirect cloning of large genomes into bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) plasmid. This technique is rather difficult and protracted. Thus, bypassing the BAC plasmid stage in large genome editing would be a big win for the application. The CRISPR-cas9 system, first discovered in Streptococcus pyogenes, is an important tool for […]
Hold Your ‘breadth’ – H3K4me3 Domain Size MattersAugust 1, 2014Apple may have finally thrown the gloves off in the race for larger screens, but it appears that this is old news for cells, who have been elevating the status of important genes for years by marking them with large billboards of H3K4 tri-methylation. These genes then get the VIP treatment from cellular machinery ensuring “enhanced […]