An article describing the work of Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch’s and his research team from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research was published in the Cell journal. It describes an innovative method of using gene editing (CRISPR/Cas9) in the study of the mechanisms of epigenetic regulation of gene expression (‘Editing DNA methylation in the mammalian genome’).
The scientists used the modified CRISPR/Cas9 system for precise methylation and demethylation of DNA. One of the members of the team was Szymon Czauderna, a PhD candidate from the JU Department of Medical Biotechnology, who spent three months on an internship in the Whitehead Institute in 2015/2016. It was possible thanks to the Harmonia grant awarded by the National Science Centre to Prof. Józef Dulak’s research team for their study, entitled ‘The role of heme oxygenase-1 in the inflammatory bowel diseases’.
The project, related to mechanisms of somatic cell reprogramming in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCS) and their differentiation, is conducted by the JU Department of Medical Biochemistry in collaboration with Prof. Jaenisch, who visited the University in May to deliver a guest lecture at the Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology.
