2019-161 – Specific Nuclear-Anchored Independent Labeling (SNAIL) for the study and manipulation of distinct cell populations within tissue

The brain and other tissues consist of heterogeneous populations of cells with specialized properties and functions. These are genetically and epigenetically distinguishable cell types which are likely to display different roles and responses in disease and other conditions. Yet, the vast majority of genomic assays are conducted on bulk tissue and not individual cell types, clouding our ability to disentangle these cell type-specific mechanisms. Improved nuclei labeling and isolation techniques were developed for this purpose. While most live cell sorting technologies rely on transgenic mice, SNAIL provides cell type labeling and isolation through viral probes. The system also includes GAN models for creating synthetic nucleic acid sequences to label cell types and states. Cindy Lou Chepanoske cchepano@andrew.cmu.edu 412-268-2979