Project description:We designed and introduced a new methylation array concentrating on human trait screening and discovery. The new MSA (Methylation Screening Array) leveraged the massive Infinium platform-based data from epigenome-wide association studies, combined with updated knowledge from the latest single cell and cell type-resolution whole genome methylome profiles, to achieve scalable screening of epigenetics-trait association in an ultra-high sample-throughput. Our design encompassed diverse human trait associations, including those with genetic, biological, and demographical variables, environmental exposures, and common human diseases such as neurodegenerative, genetic, cardiovascular, infectious, and immune diseases. We comprehensively evaluated the reproducibility, accuracy, and capacity of comprehensive cell-type deconvolution in diverse human tissues. Our first data using this platform uncovered dynamic chromatin and tissue contexts of DNA methylations with human trait associations.
Project description:We designed and introduced a new methylation array concentrating on human trait screening and discovery. The new MSA (Methylation Screening Array) leveraged the massive Infinium platform-based data from epigenome-wide association studies, combined with updated knowledge from the latest single cell and cell type-resolution whole genome methylome profiles, to achieve scalable screening of epigenetics-trait association in an ultra-high sample-throughput. Our design encompassed diverse human trait associations, including those with genetic, biological, and demographical variables, environmental exposures, and common human diseases such as neurodegenerative, genetic, cardiovascular, infectious, and immune diseases. We comprehensively evaluated this array's reproducibility, accuracy, and capacity in supporting 5-hydroxymethylation profiling and comprehensive cell-type deconvolution in diverse human tissues. Our first data using this platform uncovered dynamic chromatin and tissue contexts of DNA modification variations and genetic variants with human trait associations.
Project description:Genome-wide methylation profiling of DNA extracted from the prefrontal cortex of post-mortem MSA patients (n=41) or normal, healthy controls (CTRLs; n=37). The Illumina Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip was used, investigating app. 850,000 CpG sites throughout the genome
Project description:Engineered cytokine-based approaches for immunotherapy of cancer are poised to enter the clinic, with IL-12 being at the forefront. However, little is known about potential mechanisms of resistance to cytokine therapies. We found that orthotopic murine lung tumors were resistant to systemically delivered IL-12 fused to murine serum albumin (MSA, IL12-MSA) due to low IL-12R expression on tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells. IL2-MSA increased binding of IL12-MSA by tumor-reactive CD8+ T cells, and combined administration of IL12-MSA and IL2-MSA led to enhanced tumor-reactive CD8+ T cell effector differentiation, decreased numbers of tumor-infiltrating CD4+ regulatory T (Treg) cells, and increased survival of lung tumor-bearing mice. Predictably, the combination of IL-2 and IL-12 at therapeutic doses led to significant dose-limiting toxicity. Administering IL-12 and IL-2 analogs with preferential binding to cells expressing IL12rb1 and CD25, respectively, led to a significant extension of survival in mice with lung tumors while abrogating dose-limiting toxicity. These findings suggest that IL-12 and IL-2 represent a rational approach to combination cytokine therapy whose dose-limiting toxicity can be overcome with engineered cytokine variants.
Project description:Understanding the complex effects of genetic perturbations on cellular state and fitness in human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) has been challenging using traditional pooled screening techniques which typically rely on unidimensional phenotypic readouts. Here, we use barcoded open reading frame (ORF) overexpression libraries with a coupled single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and fitness screening approach, a technique we call SEUSS (ScalablE fUnctional Screening by Sequencing), to establish a comprehensive assaying platform. Using this system, we perturbed hPSCs with a library of developmentally critical transcription factors (TFs), and assayed the impact of TF overexpression on fitness and transcriptomic cell state across multiple media conditions. We further leveraged the versatility of the ORF library approach to systematically assay mutant gene libraries and also whole gene families. From the transcriptomic responses, we built genetic co-perturbation networks to identify key altered gene modules. Strikingly, we found that KLF4 and SNAI2 have opposing effects on the pluripotency gene module, highlighting the power of our method to characterize the effects of genetic perturbations. From the fitness responses, we identified ETV2 as a driver of reprogramming towards an endothelial-like state.