The trial lecture is: "Extending the genome editing toolbox: Approaches to discover new, so far unknown Cas proteins".
Time and place: April.26, 2023 10:15 AM, Zoom
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The events will be live streamed using Zoom. The host of the session will moderate the technicalities while the chair of the defence will moderate the events.
Ex auditorio questions: The chair of the defence will invite the audience to ask ex auditorio questions either written or oral. This can be requested by clicking "Participants" followed by clicking "Raise hand".
The events opens for participation just before they start, and closes for new participants approximately 15 minutes after it has begun.
Main research findings
After being harnessed as a tool for genome editing, the prokaryotic adaptive immune system - CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat) has revolutionized genetic research and redefined gene therapy.
Precision editing is especially needed when applying CRISPR technology to correct mutations associated with genetic disorders. Genomes can be precisely modified utilizing HDR (Homology directed repair), the intrinsic cellular DNA repair system, following CRISPR-Cas9 initiated DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). When using HDR to edit genes, PAM (Protospacer Adjacent Motif) sequence is of particular concern because HDR-mediated gene editing is most efficient when the target sites are close to the edited region. PAM is the short DNA sequence (typically 2-6 bp) adjacent to the region that is complementary to the guide-RNA. It distinguishes invading DNA and facilitates Cas nuclease to unwind genomic DNA for cleavage. To enhance HDR in CRISPR-Cas9 precise gene editing, screening Cas9 fused to DNA repair proteins to discover HDR-boosting fusions is one of our strategies.
The present thesis focused on developing a high throughput platform which facilitates characterizing PAM of CRISPR system, also screened HDR-boosting Cas9 fusions and proposed a new potential mechanism of the Cas9-POLD3 fusion - accelerating the removal of Cas9 from its cleavage site.
Adjudication committee
Dr Renee Beekman, Centre for genomic Regulation
Dr Anna Vaharautio, University of Helsinki
Professor Bernd Thiede, University of Oslo
Chair of defence
Professor Pål Falnes, University of Oslo
Supervisors
Dr. Emma Haapaniemi, University of Oslo
Researcher Hilde Loge Nilsen, University of Oslo
Professor Rafal Ciosk, University of Oslo