Thursday, January 29, 2015

CRISPR-based gene photoactivation system

Nihongaki Y, Yamamoto S, Kawano F, Suzuki H, Sato M. CRISPR-Cas9-based Photoactivatable Transcription System. Chem Biol. 2015 Jan 20. pii: S1074-5521(14)00459-1. PMID: 25619936.

From the abstract: "... Here we created a light-inducible, user-defined, endogenous gene activation system based on CRISPR-Cas9. ... this ... system can allow rapid and reversible targeted gene activation by light."

Friday, January 9, 2015

Over-expression of transcription factors--resource and screen paper from Deplancke lab

Early online at Genome Research:  A large-scale, in vivo transcription factor screen defines bivalent chromatin as a key property of regulatory factors mediating Drosophila wing development. Claus Schertel, Monica Albarca, Claudia Rockel-Bauer, Nicholas W Kelley, Johannes Bischof, Korneel Hens, Erik van Nimwegen, Konrad Basler and Bart Deplancke. 2015.

From the abstract: "... We generated 596 site-directed transgenic Drosophila lines that contain integrations of individual UAS-TF constructs to facilitate spatio-temporally controlled misexpression in vivo. All transgenes were expressed in the developing wing and two thirds induced specific phenotypic defects. In vivo knock-down of the same genes yielded a phenotype for 50%, with both methods indicating a great potential for misexpression to characterize novel functions in wing growth, patterning and development. Thus, our UAS-TF library provides an important addition to the genetic toolbox of Drosophila research ..."

Thursday, January 8, 2015

SignedPPI included in list of "Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year"

How cool is this? SignedPPI, which was developed by the Perrimon lab and DRSC, made it onto the Signaling Breakthroughs of the Year list at Science Signaling!

Here's the paper that describes SignedPPI (free in PubMed Central): Vinayagam A, Zirin J, Roesel C, Hu Y, Yilmazel B, Samsonova AA, Neumüller RA, Mohr SE, Perrimon N. Integrating protein-protein interaction networks with phenotypes reveals signs of interactions. Nat Methods. 2014 Jan;11(1):94-9. PMID: 24240319; PMCID: PMC3877743.

NIH funding announcement--basic research in neuroscience

NIH FOA PAS-15-029 is specifically slated for basic research R01 applications and thus, might be of special interest to some of you. NINDS, NIA, NIDA and NIMH are participating. 

From the Purpose Statement:  "The goal of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to stimulate research addressing fundamental questions in basic neuroscience. Proposed projects can address any area of neuroscience within the missions of the participating institutes and should focus on understanding the structure and/or function of the normal nervous system."

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Sorting by size--with automation

In the "posting this because it looks cool" department:  
The FlyCatwalk: A High Throughput Feature-Based Sorting System for Artificial Selection in Drosophila. Vasco Medici, Sibylle Chantal Vonesch, Steven N. Fry, and Ernst Hafen G3 early online January 2, 2015, doi:10.1534/g3.114.013664 http://www.g3journal.org/content/early/2015/01/02/g3.114.013664.abstract

Fig. 1 includes a photo of their device, "a fully automated, high throughput system to sort live fruit flies ... based on morphometric traits."