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To investigate the role of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in brain development, a team led by John Rinn and Paola Arlotta of the ӳý and Harvard Stem Cell Institute, and Harvard’s Giulio Tomassy, analyzed the expression of lncRNAs in the developing and adult brain using lncRNA-knockout mouse models. The resulting map of gene expression revealed surprising spatial temporal patterns where a lncRNA is expressed embryonically but not in adult brains and vice-versa. The researchers also found that about 25 percent of lncRNA deletions resulted in a “cis-like” regulatory role on local gene expression. , which appears in PNAS, suggests several avenues for future studies on these molecules in brain development and physiology.

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH), an international coalition dedicated to improving human health by maximizing the potential of genomic medicine, marked its second anniversary this month. Today, more than 250 GA4GH Members are coming together in the Netherlands to collaborate on the development of innovative, integrated solutions that promote genomic and clinical data sharing, and the creation of a global learning system in genomic medicine.

A team of researchers from the ӳý and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute has developed CRISP-Disp, a method that expands on the CRISPR-Cas9 system, allowing researchers to display multiple, large RNA structures on the Cas9 protein. The method enables the researchers to deliver artificial RNA devices — such as RNA processors, scaffolds, and imaging applications — to specific points on the genome. The work was led by John Rinn who, with his colleagues, is using the approach to better study long, non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are hard to study using traditional knockout methods. With CRISP-Disp, the researchers can relocate lncRNAs to study them in isolation. To learn more, read the team’s paper, which was published online by the journal Nature Methods.

Human genetics studies provide insight into how an ideal drug might target and modify a disease-causing protein. But, oftentimes, these “experiments of nature” indicate the need for drugs that act through novel mechanisms. by ӳý researchers Stuart Schreiber, Joanne Kotz, and colleagues published in Cell outlines recently completed, decade-long Molecular Libraries Program (MLP) — an NIH effort to identify small-molecule probes that could help explore human biology. From malaria to multiple sclerosis and diabetes, the authors describe how these probes are enabling the investigation of disease hypotheses that would be difficult to explore via other approaches, advancing therapeutic discovery.

The ӳý is designed for collaboration. Visitors will notice walls of glass that promote transparency, “living rooms” with casual seating for informal meetings, and writable, “whiteboard walls” stocked with dry erase markers for spontaneous brainstorming sessions. Some of these writable walls sport chemical formulas or structures and others detail new hypotheses. In the ӳý’s 320 Charles Street building, however, members of the Genomics Platform have transformed one whiteboard wall into an essential management tool, known as the “Strategy Board."