Innovative Genomics Institute

"There are now over 250 graduates of the AOCC course whose breeding efforts feed tens of millions of people across Africa. Our CRISPR course piggybacks on that: we're training molecular biologists now to go collaborate with those breeders, plug into the breeding pipelines that they have built, and accelerate crop improvement as is only possible by using gene editing." --> Evan Groover on IGI's African Plant Breeding Academy #CRISPR course –?teaching plant scientists from across Africa to use CRISPR in locally important crops! Read more: https://lnkd.in/erA9-iSX ?????? Pictured: Evan with a Gros Michel banana plant, the now-rare cultivar that artificial banana flavoring is based on

I'm proud to share our review on CRISPR therapies for the blood, with a focus on ex vivo success stories & the path towards in vivo delivery. It has been about a year since Casgevy was approved for treatment of sickle cell disease, and edited CAR-T cells are showing more and more promise. Big credit to PhD student Christy George and her co-authors. The key figures are shared in the comments below, and the paper is open access here:

Out now from Ross Wilson, IGI's Director of Therapeutic Delivery!

At IGI, we're focused on real-world impact. We're growing our impact factor with the new IGI Incubator Program in partnership with Aditum Bio Management Company – a key new piece of our entrepreneurial programing. Read more: https://ow.ly/LxuL50VkjkV

In a recent Nature Communications paper, Jennifer Doudna’s lab at the IGI and Michael Jordan’s lab in UC Berkeley’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science unveil a new #AI-based method that allows researchers to quickly narrow down large datasets of proteins to prioritize what to study in the lab. Read more: https://ow.ly/nxxn50V80fo

I am so proud of this program and the Hampton students who’s incredible work showcased just how impactful this opportunity could be. I initiated our partnership with Hampton University and Graham Chakafana, PhD 2 years ago. Since then we have hosted 3 Hampton students, have 2 more coming this summer, and The Rising Stars Program expands this effort to host 8 students per year from HBCUs including Hampton. Huge thanks to the rest of the team Madelyn Gelpi, M.P.P., Hope Henderson and Zilose Lyons who made sure that this partnership would continue to fluorish.

?? Big Give is now LIVE Help support undergrad-led synthetic biology research, training programs, and a large community of aspiring scientists! Every amount of support helps--whether that's: ?? Chipping in $10 at https://bit.ly/igem-give25 ?? Sharing our posts on Instagram and LinkedIn ?? Sending a text blast to family and friends Your support helps us keep undergraduate research accessible--will you join us? #CalBigGive?#BigGive2025?#iGEMBerkeley

Phage genomes are full of mysterious proteins that could potentially be harnessed to create new genomic tools. IGI Investigators Jennifer Doudna & Brady Cress with co-first authors Ben Adler & Muntathar Al-Shimary (pictured) detail a new method for exploring phage genomes in a paper in Nature Microbiology. Read more: https://ow.ly/uucL50V77n0

Congratulations Professor Staskawicz! Your work in plant immunity is inspiring to us all. And for those of you keeping track at home, that is 4 out of the last 6 Wolf Prizes in Agriculture (a global award considered by many to be the Nobel Prize for Ag) to IGI members. That’s winners in 11% of ALL the years Wolf agriculture prizes have EVER been awarded (started in 1978)!

I know how much work it is to sample and care for all these animals. The microbiome longitudinal data we generate will lay the foundation for all future livestock methane studies around the globe AND give CRISPR a definitive roadmap to shut down emissions. Thank you Ermias, team, and UC Davis! Together we will solve the livestock methane problem!