Achievement

Interdisciplinary teamwork fostered by our IGERT has resulted in high profile research advances in the application of TALENs (TAL effector DNA binding domains coupled with nucleases), as molecular reagents for genomic modification, allowing researchers to modify target genes with high specificity and efficiency. Deepak Reyon (IGERT associate with Drena Dobbs, CMB IGERT PI, ISU), working in the laboratory of collaborator, Keith Joung, at Massachusetts General Hospital, developed a rapid and reliable “FLASH” method for assembly TALENs for genome editing (Nature Biotechnology, 2012). Another exciting accomplishment was the determination of the crystal structure of a TALEN protein bound to DNA, by Adam Bogdanove (IGERT advisor, ISU) and collaborators, published in Science, 2012. Both advances required close integration of computational and wet-lab experimental approaches, a primary goal of our IGERT training program in Computational Molecular Biology.