Dr. Oren Parnas's Lab
About
The Parnas lab is located in the Immunology and Cancer Research Department, Faculty of Medicine at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, since 2016.
We investigate pancreatic cancer development from early lesion to tumor and explore cellular diversity and expression profile of malignant and non-malignant cells using single-cell RNA-seq.
In a parallel effort, we use CRISPR to modify the immune cells to fight cancer.
Partner's Genome Editing vision
CRISPR is an easy-to-use tool that allows efficient knock-out of genes and exploring the related phenotype. We are using an opposite approach, performing genome-wide CRISPR screens aiming to find the optimal genes to target, to achieve a specific cellular phenotype. We are applying this approach using immune cell lines and primary immune cells.
Partner's activity within the consortium
We perform CRISPR screen in human cell line U937, targeting all the transcription factors and chromatin modulators using 6 guides per gene, to a total of more than 12,500 gRNAs. We have chosen 40 genes, based on the screen results, and individually used 6 guides for each gene to explore the editing efficiency. We will follow up creating additional guide libraries based on the consortium algorithm and perform additional screens with the new design to produce additional massive measurements of gene editing.
