Towards genomic surgery with zinc finger recombinases

University of Glasgow

Past award

Student: Frazer Buchanan : University of Glasgow

Year Award Started: 2016

Many genetic diseases could be treated if we had tools for precise alteration of the DNA molecules within cells. This project aims to develop a family of synthetic enzymes called zinc finger recombinases (ZFRs), which can recognize two specific sequences in a cell’s DNA, cut the DNA strands, and rejoin the cut ends in a new arrangement, allowing a “bad” gene to be cut out, or a “good” gene to be inserted. We plan to create ZFRs that can cut out the piece of DNA encoding HIV from the human cellular DNA.

Research area: Other conditions

Supervisors:

Professor William Stark
Synthetic Biology and Industrial Biotech