Mei Zeng, a postdoc in Nelson Lau’s lab (Biology) has been selected to receive a postdoctoral fellowship award – the Genome Customization Award (TGCA) from Cellectis Bioresearch. The TGCA award was established by Cellectis Bioresearch in 2010 with the goal of spreading the use of meganucleases for genome customization throughout the life sciences
Meganucleases are endodeoxyribonucleases characterized by a large recognition site (12 to 40 base pairs) — so large that it generally only occurs once in any given genome. The Lau group will apply the custom meganucleases to improve transgenesis of Xenopus tropicalis for RNA interference methodologies. The most widely used transgenesis method utilizes the yeast meganucleases I-SceI which cuts both the transgene vector and an unknown site in the genome into which the transgene gets integrated. This method has several limitations: it requires a large number of embryos for injection and screening, the integration sites cut by I-Sce-I are unknown and likely stochastic, and it ultimately produces only 5-10% of germline transmission. The custom meganucleases engineered by Cellectis Bioresearch target a known single site (24bp) within the genome, allowing for increased specificity and efficiency of transgene intergration. Mei and colleagues hope to use the rational design to enforce the systemic constitutive expression of a short hairpin RNA cassette in a vertebrate model.
Marc Le Bozec, CEO of Cellectis Bioresearch, presented the award to Drs. Nelson Lau and Mei Zeng on March 16, 2011 at the grand opening of Cellectis Bioresearch Inc facilities in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
