Jamie Drayton (HANSEN LAB)

Investigating Interactions between Cohesin-mediated Chromatin Looping and Transcription

The cohesin protein complex organizes the eukaryotic genome in 3D by dynamically extruding chromatin into loops. Despite its importance to a wide range of cellular processes from gene expression to DNA repair and a putative role in several cancers, much remains unknown about the mechanics of cohesin-mediated looping. We present a multi-pronged study combining live-cell imaging, bulk genomics methods, and polymer simulations to uncover the mechanistic interactions between cohesin-mediated looping and transcription by RNA polymerase.

Kaiyi Jiang (BIRNBAUM & ABUDAYYEH-GOOTENBERG LABS)

Reprogrammable RNA-guided Nucleases in Eukaryotes and Their Viruses

Programmable RNA-guided DNA nucleases perform numerous roles in prokaryotes, but the extent of their spread outside prokaryotes is unclear. Here, we characterize Fanzors as RNA-programmable DNA endonucleases, using biochemical and cellular evidence and demonstrate that Fanzors can be harnessed for genome editing in human cells, highlighting the potential of these widespread eukaryotic RNA-guided nucleases for biotechnology applications.