news
Announcing 24 New Research Projects
Starting this month, a fresh wave of projects are underway as a new cohort of researchers joins the Innovative Genomics Institute. A plethora of creative and exciting projects were submitted following a call for proposals last winter. In the end, we selected 24 new research projects led by 40 principal investigators across 3 academic institutions (UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and UC Davis).
The Agriculture program area is seeing the largest growth, with the addition of 11 new projects. Researchers from both UC Berkeley and UC Davis are developing cross-cutting technologies to improve genome editing of crops for sustainable agriculture. Delivery of genome editing tools into plant cells remains a significant hurdle for the agricultural research community. Several of the new IGI scientists are exploring creative ways to overcome this barrier, which could open the door to rapid, high-efficiency editing in a wide spectrum of crops.
From increasing the efficiency of genome editing to modeling gene drives, our new Technology program supports the development and application of novel CRISPR-based techniques to accelerate research around the world. New projects in Microbiology focus on understanding intricate interactions between bacteria and phage, and creating tools for interrogating microbiomes. Led by researchers from UC Berkeley and UC Davis, the first three research projects in our Society program will assess public understanding of genome editing, improve regulation of the technology, and analyze its use in agriculture.
These projects lay the foundation for the IGI to grow in all program areas, eventually benefiting the entire research community and society at large. See who’s involved and what they’re working on below, and stay tuned for brand new pages with more information about each new project as well as current ongoing projects!
Agriculture 
| Investigator(s) | Institution | Project Title |
| Sheng Luan | UC Berkeley | Understanding and engineering traits for high K-use efficiency in rice |
| Richard Dodd | UC Berkeley | CRISPR-Cas9 to test genotype/phenotype associations in sugar pine across an environmental gradient |
|
Barbara Baker Jacob Brunkard |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
A DCL 4 network that regulates plant defense, RNA stability, a genome integrity |
|
Luca Comai Henry Isabelle |
UC Davis UC Davis |
Segmental editing of the potato genome |
| Beth Rowan | UC Davis | Targeted meiotic recombination using CRISPR-Cas9 for crop improvement |
| Venkatesan Sundaresan | UC Davis | Clonal propagation of hybrids through seeds |
| Delivery-Focused Projects | ||
| Markita Landry | UC Berkeley | Nanotechnologies for plant genome editing |
|
Savithramma Dinesh-Kumar Ugrappa Nagalakshmi |
UC Davis UC Davis |
Development of RNA virus-mediated delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 for genome engineering in plants |
|
Niren Murthy Myeong-Je Cho |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Genome editing in plants with gold nanoparticles |
|
Daniel Rokhsar Brain Staskawicz |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Genome editing of the staple crop cassava to eliminate toxic cyanogen production |
| Pamela Ronald | UC Davis | Tissue culture-free CRISPR-Cas9 RNP delivery system for rice |
Technology 
| Investigator(s) | Institution | Project Title |
| Gary Karpen | UC Berkeley | Manipulating chromatin to improve genome engineering |
| John Marshall | UC Berkeley | CRISPR-Cas9-based gene drive architecture for control of agricultural pests |
| Michael McManus | UCSF | Unlocking the hidden architecture of complex gene interactions |
|
Richard Michelmore Ting Guo |
UC Davis UC Davis |
Development of methods for deployment of genome editing reagents |
|
John Dueber David Schaffer |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Engineering CRISPR-guided DNA polymerases for in vivo, unbiased mutagenesis of user-defined loci |
|
David Segal Jacob Corn |
UC Davis UC Berkeley |
Detecting gene and epigenetic edits in live cells |
|
Alex Marson Ross Wilson |
UCSF UC Berkeley |
Hematopoietic cell reprogramming via receptor-mediated uptake of Cas9 RNP |
Microbiology 
| Investigator(s) | Institution | Project Title |
|
Adam Arkin Vivek Mutalik Adam Deutschbauer |
UC Berkeley LBNL LBNL |
Discovery and engineering of host-phage interaction determinants for designed manipulation of microbial communities |
|
Louise Glass Adam Arkin Jeffery Skerker |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Developing a high-throughput functional genomics platform to combat Aspergillus flavus growth and aflatoxin contamination of global food supplies |
| Carol Gross | UCSF | Pioneering molecular genetic analysis of the microbiome using CRISPRi knockdowns |
Society 
| Investigator(s) | Institution | Project Title |
|
Ken Taymor Jodi Halpern Mark Yarborough |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Gene modification therapies: Facilitating regulatory pathways and research subject understanding |
|
George Barnett Pamela Ronald Mark Lubell |
UC Davis UC Davis UC Davis |
Assessing stakeholder understanding of genome editing to inform public engagement |
|
David Zilberman Matthew Potts |
UC Berkeley UC Berkeley |
Maximizing social, economic, and environmental benefits from gene editing technologies in agriculture |
