SF3B1 is the most commonly mutated RNA splicing factor in cancer1,2,3,4, but the mechanisms by which SF3B1 mutations promote malignancy are poorly understood. Here we integrated pan-cancer splicing analyses with a positive-enrichment CRISPR screen to prioritize splicing alterations that promote tumorigenesis. We report that diverse SF3B1 mutations converge on repression of BRD9, which is a core component of the recently described non-canonical BAF chromatin-remodelling…
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Dr. M. Elizabeth ‘Betz’ Halloran has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, a high honor in the fields of health and medicine. Halloran is one of the world’s top experts in statistical methods for evaluating vaccines and vaccination strategies to stop outbreaks of deadly infectious diseases. The Academy announced its 100 new members today in conjunction with its annual…
A wiggly cylinder of protein, hydrogel, and human cells, about the size of a wristwatch battery, could one day serve as a building block for synthetic tissues. The implications could be big for biological research and even organ transplants, according to a recent study that reported the creation of the gelatinous cylinder. The work brings researchers a step closer to fabricating tissues…
A team of scientists who were trying to identify neurons that drive instinctive behaviors in mice uncovered something surprising on the way: brain cell types that exist only in female or male animals. Other researchers have previously found genes that are switched on, or expressed, exclusively in male or female brains, but this is the first demonstration of sex-specific neuron…
Squids, octopuses, cuttlefish, amphibians, and chameleon lizards are among the animals that can change the color of their skin in a blink of an eye. They have photoreceptors in their skin that operate independently of their brain. The photoreceptors are part of a family of proteins known as opsins. Mammals have opsins, too. They are the most abundant proteins in the…
Christof Koch was finishing his PhD on theoretical brain modelling in 1982 when he received a worrying telegram from his adviser, Tomaso Poggio. Poggio, who had relocated to the United States from what was then West Germany the previous year, warned Koch, who was planning to join him, that he might struggle to find a US position. After getting his…
The ability to expand hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) ex vivo is critical to fully realize the potential of HSPC-based therapies. In particular, the application of clinically effective therapies, such as cord blood transplantation, has been impeded because of limited HSPC availability. Here, using 3D culture of human HSPCs in a degradable zwitterionic hydrogel, we achieved substantial expansion of…
A new, interdisciplinary muscle research center is celebrating its opening at its main location at UW Medicine South Lake Union. With collaborating labs across the University of Washington campus and at other Seattle-area institutions and beyond, the Center for Translational Muscle Research will encompass a myriad of muscle science and disease investigations. Studies will range from the basics of muscle-related…
The Allen Institute today released its first — and the world’s largest — dataset of electrical brain activity gathered using Neuropixels, a new high-resolution silicon probe that can read out activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously. These data capture billions of lightning-fast spikes of electrical communication sparked from nearly 100,000 neurons as laboratory mice see and respond to images and…
