New CRISPR-dCas9 toolbox for diverse in vitro and in situ applications: from detecting cancer to cell heterogeneity during embryogenesis

The CRISPR – Cas system (stands for: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats and CRISPR associated, respectively) has been used in a myriad of applications, ranging from genome editing and gene expression modulation to diagnostics and imaging. However, these strategies do not provide signal amplification, and are thus unable to realize sensitive applications. To this end, an engineered CRISPR-dCas9 complex (patent-pending) has been developed in our group that conserves the inherent specificity and robustness of CRISPR complex, whilst allowing for signal amplification. In the proposed research project, this engineered CRISPR complex will be exploited for realizing sensitive and specific bioassays in two integral settings: (1) in vitro diagnostic (IVD) bioassays, in the context of early cancer diagnosis and bacterial genome analysis, and (2) in situ cell-based analyses, towards understanding genomic and transcriptomic changes involved in embryo development.

Keywords:CRISPR, diagnostics, cell analysis, cancer, embryogenesis

Disciplines:Medical biotechnology diagnostics, Nanobiotechnology, DNA analysis technology, Medical molecular engineering of nucleic acids and proteins