The rapid rise of CRISPR therapies is changing the face of medicine. IGI is laying the foundation for a new medical specialty that will use genomic disease diagnostics and CRISPR-based treatments as the standard of care for patients with genetic disease: interventional genomics.

IGI’s Interventional Genomics Unit (IGU) is creating new tools and workflows to incorporate interventional genomics into clinical practice. Drawing on basic research from UC Berkeley and clinical research from UCSF, the IGI is uniquely positioned to spearhead this approach, with world-leading CRISPR expertise and know-how from basic research through clinical trials. Aligned with the IGI mission, the IGU focuses on areas of urgent, unmet need and benefit to historically underserved groups. The IGU has a particular interest in realizing the power of CRISPR to serve individuals with rare genetic disorders.

The IGU consists of three core platforms: 1. the Interventional Genomics Unit for Therapeutic Innovation (INGENUITI); 2. the Assay Development Platform; and 3. the IGI Clinical Lab.

INGENUITI Research Study

The Interventional Genomics Unit for Therapeutic Innovation (INGENUITI) is an initiative at the Innovative Genomics Institute to study the mechanisms underlying how genomic variants can cause disease and how gene editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9 could be used to treat those diseases. We are actively recruiting participants for this study, which you can read more about here. If you’re interested, you can email ingenuiti@berkeley.edu, and an investigator will get back to you.

Core Platforms

1. INGENUITI 
   Research and treatment of rare diseases is limited by their very rarity: while almost 1 in 20 people has a rare disease of some kind, the rarity of each particular disease and limited data about each case are barriers to understanding and treating these conditions. The goal of the Interventional Genomics Unit for Therapeutic Innovation (INGENUITI) is to create a standardized interventional genomics assessment (IGA) and centralize IGA data from rare-disease patients across the globe. This data will allow researchers to uncover disease-causing genetic variants and enable the development of CRISPR therapies for rare-disease patients. Our collaborators include SingHealth.

    
   

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2. Assay Development for CRISPR-Based Cures 
   To support clinical trials for new CRISPR-based therapies being developed at the IGI and around the world, the IGU is developing a suite of diagnostic tools and protocols for monitoring the impact of genome-editing therapies in a range of tissue and cell types, starting with sickle cell disease and blood disorders.
   • Read more about the IGI’s Sickle Cell Initiative >
     

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3. Clinical Diagnostics
   The IGI Clinical Lab is a high-complexity, CLIA-certified, and CAP-accredited laboratory that serves as a catalyst for translational health research at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.
   • Read more about the COVID-19 testing efforts >
   • Read more about COVID-19 diagnostics >

Connected Research Centers

• Center for Translational Genomics
• NGS Sequencing Core
• Center for CRISPR Target Discovery

Careers & Contact

To learn about open positions at the IGI and IGU, see our Careers page.

For any inquiries about the IGU’s ongoing work or potential partnerships, please contact Petros Giannikopoulos at pgiannikopoulos@berkeley.edu.