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The ability to reprogram adult somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and the subsequent development of protocols for their differentiation into disease-relevant cell types have enabled in-depth molecular analyses of multiple disease states as hitherto impossible. Neurons differentiated from patient-specific iPSCs provide a means to recapitulate molecular phenotypes of neurodegenerative diseases in vitro. However, it remains challenging to conduct precise manipulations of gene expression in iPSC-derived neurons towards modeling complex human neurological diseases. The application of CRISPR/Cas9 to mammalian systems is revolutionizing the utilization of genome editing technologies in the study of molecular contributors to the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. Here, we demonstrate that CRISPRa and CRISPRi can be used to exert precise modulations of endogenous gene expression in fate-committed iPSC-derived neurons. This highlights CRISPRa/i as a major technical advancement in accessible tools for evaluating the specific contributions of critical neurodegenerative disease-related genes to neuropathogenesis.

Original publication

DOI

10.1038/srep28420

Type

Journal article

Journal

Sci Rep

Publication Date

24/06/2016

Volume

6

Keywords

Cell Differentiation, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, Gene Expression Regulation, HEK293 Cells, Humans, Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Neurons, Transcriptome