FURI | Fall 2018

Generation of an Inducible CRISPR/dCas9-KRAB System to Modulate Gene Expression

Current in-vitro Alzheimer’s disease (AD) models fail to recapitulate the critical risk factor of age because they yield immature neuronal populations that exhibit gene expression more closely resembling a fetal brain rather than adult tissue. This project aims to develop an inducible CRISPR/dCas9-KRAB system that will repress genes negatively correlated with age (RANBP17, LAMA3, and PCDH10) to effectively induce aged phenotypes into current disease models. This would ultimately improve the extent to which the in-vivo environment can be modeled. With further development, this research can be used to better understand AD and create more effective treatments for patients.