#CRISPRa
Chinese researchers engineered an ultra-compact Cas12m variant (denCas12m) to create smCRISPRa, enabling single-AAV multiplex gene activation of up to 6 genes and therapeutic rescue in mouse models of Dravet syndrome and DMD. 🧬🤖 #CRISPRa #AAV #GeneTherapy #Cas12m #NatureBiotech #DMD #DravetSyndrome
November 2, 2026 at 6:36 AM
An engineered, compact Cas12m variant for multiplexed gene activation in vivo
McCutcheon, S. R., Rohm, D., Iglesias, N. & Gersbach, C. A. Epigenome editing technologies for discovery and medicine. Nat. Biotechnol. 42, 1199–1217 (2024). Bendixen, L., Jensen, T. I. & Bak, R. O. CRISPR–Cas-mediated transcriptional modulation: the therapeutic promises of CRISPRa and CRISPRi. Mol. Ther. 31, 1920–1937 (2023). Matharu, N. et al. CRISPR-mediated activation of a promoter or enhancer rescues obesity caused by haploinsufficiency. Science 363, eaau0629 (2019). Liao, H. K. et al. In vivo target gene activation via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated trans-epigenetic modulation. Cell 171, 1495–1507 (2017). Dominguez, A. A., Lim, W. A. & Qi, L. S. Beyond editing: repurposing CRISPR–Cas9 for precision genome regulation and interrogation. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 17, 5–15 (2016). Tamura, S. et al. CRISPR activation for SCN2A-related neurodevelopmental disorders. Nature 646, 983–991 (2025). Tanenhaus, A. et al. Cell-selective adeno-associated virus-mediated SCN1A gene regulation therapy rescues mortality and seizure phenotypes in a Dravet syndrome mouse model and is well tolerated in nonhuman primates. Hum. Gene Ther. 33, 579–597 (2022). Clark, T. et al. CRISPR activation screens: navigating technologies and applications. Trends Biotechnol. 42, 1017–1034 (2024). Gilbert, L. A. et al. Genome-scale CRISPR-mediated control of gene repression and activation. Cell 159, 647–661 (2014). Konermann, S. et al. Genome-scale...
www.nature.com
October 28, 2026 at 3:50 PM
An engineered, compact Cas12m variant for multiplexed gene activation in vivo
McCutcheon, S. R., Rohm, D., Iglesias, N. & Gersbach, C. A. Epigenome editing technologies for discovery and medicine. Nat. Biotechnol. 42, 1199–1217 (2024). Bendixen, L., Jensen, T. I. & Bak, R. O. CRISPR–Cas-mediated transcriptional modulation: the therapeutic promises of CRISPRa and CRISPRi. Mol. Ther. 31, 1920–1937 (2023). Matharu, N. et al. CRISPR-mediated activation of a promoter or enhancer rescues obesity caused by haploinsufficiency. Science 363, eaau0629 (2019). Liao, H. K. et al. In vivo target gene activation via CRISPR/Cas9-mediated trans-epigenetic modulation. Cell 171, 1495–1507 (2017). Dominguez, A. A., Lim, W. A. & Qi, L. S. Beyond editing: repurposing CRISPR–Cas9 for precision genome regulation and interrogation. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 17, 5–15 (2016). Tamura, S. et al. CRISPR activation for SCN2A-related neurodevelopmental disorders. Nature 646, 983–991 (2025). Tanenhaus, A. et al. Cell-selective adeno-associated virus-mediated SCN1A gene regulation therapy rescues mortality and seizure phenotypes in a Dravet syndrome mouse model and is well tolerated in nonhuman primates. Hum. Gene Ther. 33, 579–597 (2022). Clark, T. et al. CRISPR activation screens: navigating technologies and applications. Trends Biotechnol. 42, 1017–1034 (2024). Gilbert, L. A. et al. Genome-scale CRISPR-mediated control of gene repression and activation. Cell 159, 647–661 (2014). Konermann, S. et al. Genome-scale...
www.nature.com
October 28, 2026 at 3:50 PM
A millisecond squeeze plus gene-activation priming helped CRISPRa convert about 40% of mouse skin cells into neurons, versus about 3% with CRISPRa alone. doi.org/hcpm84
A quick squeeze helps CRISPR turn skin cells into neurons more efficiently
Human cells hold about two meters (6.6 feet) of DNA, folded and compacted to fit inside a nucleus. That packing is essential for life, but it creates a problem for scientists.
phys.org
October 23, 2026 at 1:20 PM
Chen et al. in the Baker Lab at the University of Washington Medical Center design over 300 nanomolar binders to coactivators like p300 and Mediator, revealing an ultrasensitive activation threshold near 500 nM and CRISPRa effectors outperforming VPR.
bioRxiv (Evolutionary Biology)
www.biorxiv.org
October 23, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Our compact binders (~65–85 aa) also proved to be potent CRISPRa effectors, outperforming VPR at several endogenous loci. A combination of these binders further boosts transcription activity.
October 21, 2026 at 7:44 PM
📷:
1) Microfluidic device. | Song Li Lab/UCLA
2) Combining CRISPRa with the squeeze (right) improved cell reprogramming efficiency compared to CRISPRa alone (left). Blue: DAPI, green: Tubb3 (a neuron-specific marker). | Yang Song/Song Li Lab
October 22, 2026 at 9:50 PM
🧬 Cracking the chromatin barrier. Squeezing nuclei via microfluidics opens dense DNA, letting CRISPRa access hidden genes. This physical priming boosts skin-to-neuron reprogramming to 40% for scalable disease modeling.
newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/qui...
A quick squeeze helps CRISPR turn skin cells into neurons more efficiently
UCLA researchers map how mechanical forces open DNA, enabling more precise and efficient gene activation by CRISPR to boost cell conversion.
newsroom.ucla.edu
October 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM
転写を活性化するタンパク質のデザイン

AIを用いた設計により、転写共役因子と相互作用する人工タンパク質をデザイン。転写活性を薬剤耐性へ変換する系で大規模解析。転写活性化のメカニズムに迫るとともに、CRISPRaなどへの応用も
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.19.760300v1
www.biorxiv.org
October 22, 2026 at 10:00 AM
CRISPRa-mediated activation of Tfeb in a fibril-induced alpha-synuclein aggregation model #NeuroDegeneration 🧪🧠
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.16.757246v1
October 19, 2026 at 4:02 PM
CRISPRa-mediated activation of Tfeb in a fibril-induced alpha-synuclein aggregation model https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.16.757246v1
October 19, 2026 at 1:17 PM
CRISPRa-mediated activation of Tfeb in a fibril-induced alpha-synuclein aggregation model https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.16.757246v1
October 19, 2026 at 1:17 PM
🚨Publication Alert🚨

Using CRISPRa in primary MSCs, this study shows that a brief, targeted transcriptional pulse can create lasting transcriptional memory. Memory genes remained sensitized for weeks and were linked to persistent loss of H3K27me3.

buff.ly/RgVwPua

Congrats to all contributors👏
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42856541/
buff.ly
October 13, 2026 at 1:21 PM
6/ We first activated 119 TFs one by one with CRISPRa in RPE-1 cells, a model for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Our Multiome Perturb-seq assay reads out open chromatin (ATAC-seq) and expression in each cell, capturing what TFs directly do and which variants they expose.
October 13, 2026 at 3:17 PM
Tumorigenesis as a process of progressive loss of original cell identity and acquirement of neural stemness

Understanding cancer as a systemic disease through comprehension of neural stemness as the core property of cancer cell and the basic rules behind

www.cell.com/cell-reports...
GLIS3 marks a neural-like progenitor cell state that drives metastasis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
Gong et al. show that pancreatic tumors adopt a neural-like progenitor (NRP) program after cytotoxic injury and inflammation that resembles normal pancreas regeneration. Using CRISPRa-engineered organ...
www.cell.com
October 11, 2026 at 7:19 AM
Five single-cell foundation models and two deep learning models were benchmarked on the CRISPRa doubles task. All scored worse than a trivially additive baseline. Evaluation design, not architecture, is the contested variable.
https://saram.io/blog/ai-virtual-cells-representation-vs-simulation-2026
Representation Is Solved, Simulation Isn
Five single-cell foundation models and two deep learning models were benchmarked on the standard CRISPRa doubles task. All of them had higher prediction error than a deliberately trivial additive baseline, and none beat predicting no change. The rebuttal says the metrics are miscalibrated. Either wa
saram.io
October 3, 2026 at 2:01 AM
Induction of hysteretic chromatin states by CRISPRa reveals locus-specific encoding of transcriptional memory https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755468v1
September 30, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Induction of hysteretic chromatin states by CRISPRa reveals locus-specific encoding of transcriptional memory https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755468v1
September 30, 2026 at 4:16 PM
#WEHI researchers developed #Partita, a high-density mouse genome-wide #CRISPRa library (263,460 sgRNAs), mapping #cancer dependencies, Irx5-driven venetoclax resistance, and in vivo MYC-synergistic oncogenes (Runx2/Runx3/Csf1r). 🐭🤖 #ScienceAdvances2026 #DrugResistance #InVivoScreening
September 22, 2026 at 6:04 AM
A high-density CRISPR activation platform for mapping cancer dependencies and resistance pathways ex vivo and in vivo
Science Advances
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A high-density CRISPR activation platform for mapping cancer dependencies and resistance pathways ex vivo and in vivo
CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) enables precise up-regulation of gene expression for ex vivo and in vivo applications. However, a lack of scalable, high-coverage tools has limited comprehensive genetic sc...
www.science.org
September 20, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Systematic screens in primary human CD4+ T cells identified 50+ pro- and anti-HIV factors. CRISPRa revealed key antiviral mechanisms enhancing resistance to HIV. PMID:42013838, Cell 2026, @Cell https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S009286742600382X #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S009286742600382X
No description available
www.cell.com
September 19, 2026 at 6:00 AM
RRIDs were included in this in Scientific Reports paper. RRIDs improve reproducibility in scientific research. #ReproducibleResearch #STMpublishing #BetterScience
A multiplexed gRNA piggyBac transposon system facilitates efficient induction of CRISPRi and CRISPRa in human pluripotent stem cells - Scientific Reports
Read the full paper: A multiplexed gRNA piggyBac transposon system facilitates efficient induction of CRISPRi and CRISPRa in human pluripotent stem cells
doi.org
September 18, 2026 at 7:01 AM
Online now: CRISPRa-identified transcription factors reprogram glioblastoma into dendritic cell-like cells to elicit systemic antitumor immunity
CRISPRa-identified transcription factors reprogram glioblastoma into dendritic cell-like cells to elicit systemic antitumor immunity
Liu et al. demonstrate a cellular reprogramming strategy that directly transforms glioblastoma cells into functional dendritic cell-like cells. This in situ conversion remodels the tumor microenvironment and elicits robust, systemic antitumor immunity, offering a synergistic and promising approach for clinical cancer immunotherapy.
dlvr.it
September 16, 2026 at 7:19 PM