Collins Lab

Beyond thrilled to present our O-MAP—now *published* @naturemethods (!!!) O-MAP is a powerful new method for biochemically "dissecting" the subcellular microenvironment around an RNA of interest, using off-the-shelf parts and standard manipulations. 🧵 nature.com/articles/s4159…

Vertebrate retrotransposons are the future of gene therapy. But how do they insert their genes? 🔥🔥 Thrilled to present part 2 of my postdoctoral work with @NogalesLab @CollinsRNPLab @berkeleyMCB where we investigate this using #CryoEM and transgene insertion in 🧪 and cells!

Hot off the presses!! How does R2 achieve its *exquisite* site specificity? Check out our new study led by former undergrad turned technician @rosajylee, now a PhD student @StanfordMed. cell.com/cell-reports/f…

Of course we have to highlight the human behind the science! Anthony is a fifth year grad student in @berkeleyMCB. He is said to delight in the narcissistic love that retroelement proteins have for their own RNAs. We love you Anthony!!!

This work, combined with pre-existing knowledge of R2 biology, furthers our understanding of retroelement protein-RNA specificity. Additionally, it informs the design of retroelements as alternative tools for gene delivery.

Classical biochemistry will never die! We are ecstatic to share this work published in @NAR_open by graduate student Anthony @arodz_var that expands our understanding of RNA requirements for binding and TPRT by the R2 retroelement. A thread : academic.oup.com/nar/advance-ar…

News and views on our R2 PRINT story!

Check out this exciting Berkeley News article by @bobthesciguy about our work! news.berkeley.edu/2024/02/20/jun…

Harnessing eukaryotic retroelement proteins for transgene insertion into human safe-harbor loci - @CollinsRNPLab go.nature.com/3utPERu

Groundbreaking study by the @CollinsRNPLab demonstrating the use of R2 proteins from multiple species for genome editing!

@KellyTHD_Nguyen Thanks Kelly!!

Great thread from our bioinformatics expert, Connor!

This work took many years and many people to bring to fruition. We've come a long way from 1% GFP positive cells in October 2021!

PRINT is a complementary approach to existing methods for genome editing and we hope it provides new avenues for personalized medicine.

Bird bird bird, bird is the word! Is the secret to safe gene addition a retroelement in birds? We repurposed the avian R2 element to insert transgenes into human cells (and more!) using RNA-only delivery 🪶 a thread 🧵 nature.com/articles/s4158…