BATS

Date/Time:

Dec 4, 2020 - 12:00 PM

Location:

Hosts:

Bevin Engelward

Speaker:

Title:

CRISPR Beyond Adaptive Immunity: RNA-guided Transposition

Abstract:

CRISPR-Cas systems are bacterial adaptive immune systems that have been repurposed as powerful tools for biotechnology. In this work, I present our lab’s characterization of a CRISPR-Cas system that has been co-opted by selfish DNA elements to perform an entirely new function: RNA-guided transposition.

Speaker:

Title:

New (Old?) Tools for Synthetic Biology in Malaria Parasites

Abstract:

Malaria kills more than 400,000 people every year, despite decades of efforts to control it. This is partly due to the difficulty of studying the parasite that causes the disease. Many approaches used to artificially control gene expression in other organisms do not work in malaria parasites, which has led to a limited understanding of gene function and cell biology. We are developing new tools that expand our ability to control parasite gene expression for use in drug discovery, vaccine design, and cell therapies.