Genome engineering is a novel field. The project will familiarize students with various forms of genome engineering tools such as ZFNs, TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9. CRISPR/Cas9 tools will be designed and constructed to modify the genome of tissue culture cell lines to generate novel cell lines using molecular biology techniques. CRISPR/Cas9 induced mutations in tissue culture cells using the RFLP technique as well as standard molecular biology techniques such as PCR, cloning into plasmids, DNA mini and midipreps, restriction digestion, transfections will be used. Students will also learn how to design new CRISPR Cas9 reagents using online tools (http://crispor.tefor.net). The targeted genes will be of significance to the immune system (T lyphocytes or natural killer cells) as well as cancer biology (the p53 tumor suppressor related proteins). Students will summarize their findings in a final report.
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