Deanna Macneil

Fish fins and single-cell sequencing help scientists glean new insights into tissue regeneration.

A short term high fat diet before fertilization rewires sperm small RNA expression, passing predisposition to metabolic disease onto offspring.

Flies, worms, and fish with rapid development and characterized genetics help scientists uncover fundamental and universal biological processes, and shape cutting-edge research across disciplines.

ABOVE: C. elegans are exceptional model organisms for in vivo compound screens. A new lab on a chip device builds on the benefits of C. elegans culture techniques while overcoming conventional challenges. ©istock, HeitiPaves Caenorhabditis elegans is a tiny nematode species that makes big contributions to molecular research. These worms have simple genomes, well-delineated developmental processes, brief lifespans, and many conserved biological pathways across the animal kingdom, including human…

Nardhy Gómez-López investigates the placental immunology of preterm birth.

ABOVE: Precise genome editing tools transform how researchers investigate cancer mutations. Owen Gould When scientists first began applying CRISPR for genome editing in human cells, it opened the floodgates for studying disease genetics. In those early days of editing with CRISPR-Cas9, precision oncology researcher Francisco Sánchez-Rivera was a graduate student investigating cancer genetics in Tyler Jacks’ laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In his graduate work, he…

ABOVE: Researchers edit RNA to bypass genome editing limitations in CAR T cell engineering. © iStock, libre de droit Many foundational research technologies have transformed cellular therapies, moving treatments from concept to clinic. In the past decade, chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) and genome editing are two standouts that led to breakthrough CAR T cell therapies for leukemia and lymphoma.1 Scientists engineer these treatments with virus-mediated gene insertion ex vivo, which instructs T…

ABOVE: Virus-like particles combine advantages of viral and nonviral delivery methods for CRISPR gene editing. © iStock, DrAfter123 Much as a precious parcel cannot reach its destination without a reliable mail carrier, gene editors cannot make it to their target DNA without safe and effective delivery methods. Viral vectors and chemical approaches enable researchers to edit genomes in cell culture and in vivo with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and related…

ABOVE: Scientists are working towards pancreatic islet transplants for diabetes treatment. © iStock, AlexLMX Insulin administration is the current mainstay of type 1 diabetes therapy, but it requires frequent injections and monitoring to provide patients with glycemic control.1 As cell therapies gain traction in the clinic for different disease states, researchers aim to optimize this approach for future diabetes treatments.2 Scientists are looking into islet transplantation as a promising alte…

Simple, quick, and modular reactions allow researchers to create useful molecular structures from a wide range of substrates.

Researchers mapped out cellular changes in the maternal-fetal interface to uncover term and preterm labor complexities.

ABOVE: Researchers connect neurodivergent genetics to developmental cell fates using brain organoid models, CRISPR, and single-cell RNA sequencing. ©i Stock, MarLei No two brains are the same. This is well known in life and science, but why brains develop divergently in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a mystery that persists in neurobiology research. Many genetic studies indicate that ASD likely arises early during fetal stages of development.1 However, researchers are still trying to connec…

ABOVE: Scientists explored how Arabidopsis thaliana grown aboard the ISS protects its DNA. © iStock, dra_schwartz The NASA Twins Study published in 2019 compared biological changes in identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly.1 The former spent a year on the International Space Station (ISS) and the latter remained Earthside. Among other differences, Scott’s telomeres grew longer while he was in space and shortened once he returned to Earth.Like many researchers in the telomere field, Dor…

Scientists train machine learning prediction models on massive datasets and fine-tune their predictions with transfer learning, which re-uses knowledge learned on one task to boost the power of a related task. © iStock, TavriusAntigen presentation by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins is the caller ID of the immune system. On the cell surface, MHCs display peptides derived from cellular components or foreign sources such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites. Peptide display allows the…

Researchers create and improve CRISPR-Cas mediated gene editing technologies based on prokaryotic CRISPR systems and eukaryotic DNA repair mechanisms.

As technologies advance, laboratory automation becomes reachable for researchers seeking high throughput approaches and reproducible results.

Jie Sun shares how his curiosity, creativity, and motivation to address clinical public health needs steer his research in immunology and infectious disease.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting more than ten million people worldwide. The breakdown of dopaminergic neurons in a brain region involved in movement, called the substantia nigra pars compacta, causes Parkinson’s disease symptoms, including tremors, impaired movement and stiffness, and disrupted balance. As the incidence of Parkinson’s disease continues to increase, this disorder places a large burden on patients, caregivers, and the healthcare…

Researchers shed light on the immunometabolism of respiratory infection, providing an avenue towards safer COVID-19 therapeutics for those affected by metabolic disorders.

Researchers engineer a protease-mediated post-translational path faster than gene switches for processes that need to happen quickly, such as insulin release.