Cellular and Gene Editing Research
Cellular Operations
We develop novel genome editing techniques, cellular differentiation and cellular phenotyping systems, especially with respect to high-throughput investigation of gene and non-coding regulatory element function in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
- Developing induced pluripotent stem cell models of genetic disease
- Development of high throughput single cell and spatial genomics technologies
- Genetic screening techniques using pooled and arrayed CRISPR/Cas9
- Differentiation protocols of pluripotent stem cells to brain and blood-derived lineages
- Application of screening to complex phenotypic readouts such as single cell transcriptomics or spatial genomics
We develop novel cutting-edge CRISPR screening techniques such as saturation mutagenesis, base editing, dual guide libraries and CRISPRa/i and couple these to complex phenotypic readouts such as single cell transcriptomics, spatial genomics or phenotypic assays of cellular function. We also work with and develop human cellular systems and differentiation protocols of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) in both 2D and 3D to better model human disease states in vitro. The systems developed will be applied to probe the genetic basis of cellular function in health and disease and understand the underlying cell biology.
We have a particular interest in the genetic causes of neurodegeneration, especially Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and use some of these screening methodologies to identify the genes involved and understand the consequences of genetic mutations as part of two OpenTargets projects, Neuroinflammation and NeuroID.
Core team
Mrs Michaela Bruntraeger
Senior Research Assistant
Dr Yixi Chen
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Sarah Cooper
Senior Staff Scientist
Dr Daniel Gitterman
Staff Scientist
Dr Aleks Gontarczyk
Advanced Research Assistant
Sho Iwama
Advanced Research Assistant
Dr Valentina Migliori
Staff Scientist
Dr Diego A. Peretti
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Kenny Roberts
Senior Staff Scientist
Dr Sam Washer
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr Qianxin Wu
Staff Scientist
Previous core team members
Dr Erica Bello
Postdoctoral Fellow
Thomas Burgold
Staff Scientist
Dr Meg Byrne
Senior Research Assistant
Shikha Kataria
Advanced Research Assistant
Jeremy Schwartzentruber
Former statistical geneticist at Open Targets
Associated research
Related groups
Partners
We work with the following groups
External
OpenTargets
Open Targets is an innovative, large-scale, multi-year, public-private partnership that uses human genetics and genomics data for systematic drug target identification and prioritisation.