Researchers led by Professor David Schaffer have for the first time used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to disable a defective gene that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in mice, extending their lifespan by 25 percent.
research
Conolly Lab – closing in on cancer through MPI
Bioengineering and EECS professor Steven Conolly is building a new kind of medical diagnostic technology called magnetic particle imaging (MPI).
Conboy receives $5mil Open Philanthropy grant
The Open Philanthropy Project awarded a grant of $5 million over five years to support research on the basic biology of aging-related diseases and impairments, led by Dr. Irina Conboy.
A cellphone-based microscope for treating river blindness
In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Fletcher Lab describes how the LoaScope, a modification their Cellscope, can provide fast and effective testing for Loa loa parasites in the blood. Using the LoaScope to analyze the blood of volunteers from villages in Cameroon, doctors were able to successfully treat more than 15,000 patients with ivermectin without serious complications.
Yartsev in Science: Rebalancing diversity of animal models in neuroscience research
Published in Science today, a review article by Prof. Michael Yartsev on the current decline in the diversity of species used for neuroscience research. The field has converged on a few selected model organisms, but Yartsev proposes that neuroscience might be ready to diversify again, if provided the appropriate support.
Murthy shows efficient non-viral delivery of CRISPR machinery
Professors Niren Murthy and Irina Conboy are lead authors on a new study which demonstrates the delivery of CRISPR genome-editing molecules via nanoparticles rather than via viruses. They show that CRISPR components can be packaged around individual gold nanoparticles and wrapped in a protecting polymer, and that the nanoparticles deliver the CRISPR components into a wide variety of cells efficiently.
Conboy lab describes first selective mammalian in vivo metabolic labeling of proteins in mixed environments,
Prof Irina Conboy’s lab has pioneered a method that paves the way to characterization of proteome alterations in vivo, whether imposed by age or disease.This research was published in Nature Communications.
Herr Lab awarded 2017 Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot
Professor Amy Herr’s lab has been awarded an R33 grant as part of the 2017 Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative. The grant will fund their work on “Advanced Cancer Classification via Single-Cell Electrophoretic Cytopathology.”
The National Cancer Moonshot works to accelerate research efforts by enhancing data access and facilitating collaborations among researchers, doctors, philanthropies, patients, patient advocates, and biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. The initiative aims to bring about a decade’s worth of advances in five years.
Cell mechanics lead to chicken feathers, hair
Professor Sanjay Kumar’s lab collaborated to show how identical embryonic skin cells organize to produce follicles and feathers, based on resistance from the materials underlying the skin. This could lead to more practical use of stem cells to produce skin graft materials. The work was conducted with Amy Shyer, a Miller postdoctoral fellow, and visiting scholar Alan Rodrigues, of Professor Harland’s lab, and BioE PhD student Elena Kassianidou.