Massively-parallel approaches to understand the human noncoding genome and transcriptome
September 1, 2026 @ 15:15 – 16:15 CEST
Professor Neville Sanjana, NYU, United States
Abstract
Professor Sanjana will present recent work from his lab on two topics: variant-to-function challenges in noncoding genomics and the development of RNA-targeting CRISPR screens to pinpoint functional noncoding RNAs.
First, since most disease-associated GWAS variants map to noncoding regions, we combined ancestrally diverse biobanks, massively parallel CRISPR screens, and single-cell sequencing to identify 124 target genes across 91 blood trait loci — enabling large-scale characterization of human GWAS variants and mechanisms. This work is part of an ongoing collaboration with Prof. Tuuli Lappalainen (KTH and SciLifeLab).
Second, while thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are transcribed, less than 1% have established roles. Using RNA-targeting CRISPR-Cas13 screens, we evaluated 5,500 lncRNAs across five cell lines and identified 788 essential lncRNAs. Most function independently of neighboring protein-coding genes and exhibit dynamic expression during development. Finally, their expression in primary tumors correlates with patient survival, highlighting their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets.
Biography
Neville Sanjana, PhD, is a Core Faculty Member at the New York Genome Center and Professor of Biology, Neuroscience and Physiology at New York University. Recent work from his lab identified synthetic cell programs to enhance cell and gene therapies and developed new methods to identify causal noncoding variants and their target genes at scale. Dr. Sanjana is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Engineers and Scientists, AAAS Wachtel Prize for Cancer Research, the NIH’s New Innovator Award, the Cancer Research Institute Technology Impact Award, the DARPA Young Faculty Award, the Kimmel Scholar Award, the MRA Young Investigator Award, and also is a Leichtung Family Investigator of the Brain and Behavior Foundation.
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