CRISPR Whole Genome Screening Core

CORE OVERVIEW

Functional genomics is a powerful technique to identify the function and therapeutic relevance of individual genes. The CRISPR Whole-Genome Screening Core of the NIA P30 Oklahoma Nathan Shock Center (NSC) makes advanced CRISPR-based technologies available to investigators to systematically knock-out every gene in the mouse or human genome, one gene at a time, to define individual genes and complete pathways involved in aging and age-associated diseases.

The goal of the proposed CRISPR Whole-Genome Screening Core (CSC) is to make state-of-the-art CRISPR-based technologies available to investigators in aging and geroscience to identify new genes and elucidate gene-specific events in mammalian cell-based model systems. High-throughput screens using CRISPR-based genomic libraries can identify novel genes in biological pathways that control aging and age-associated diseases by systematically knocking out individual genes in cultured cells and then measuring changes in cellular phenotypes. The CSC has the necessary expertise, instrumentation, software, and arrayed human and mouse whole-genome sgRNA CRISPR libraries to rapidly (~4-10 weeks) perform loss-of-function screens and make these capabilities available to the aging and geroscience research communities at an affordable cost. With the services offered, the Oklahoma NSC CSC uncovers key signaling cascades, molecular pathways and biological processes driving phenotypes of interest to investigators focused on aging and age-associated diseases, ultimately advancing our understanding of complex biological systems and informing potential geroscience therapeutic interventions.