Description:
Princeton Docket # 16-3258-1
Researchers at Princeton in the Department of chemistry have invented a new method that significantly lowers the cost, time and complexity for construction of whole genome knockout collection.
Whole genome knockout collections could accelerate gene and drug target discoveries by providing new insights into antibiotic resistance, pathogenic virulence and photosynthetic energy storage. Current methods for the creation of whole genome knockout collections are extremely expensive, complex and time consuming. Knockout Sudoku uses a simple manual procedure that drops sample preparation time from months to one week and the cost by over ten-fold to only a few thousand dollars. It reduces the cost and complexity of whole genome knockout collection construction to a level where it becomes practical for investigators to build collections for any organism of interest. Further this invention uses a suite of sophisticated analysis algorithms that allow construction of high-quality, low to no contamination condensed collections. The ease, speed, quality and low cost of Knockout Sudoku make it possible to construct whole genome knockout collections not just for a model representative species, but for a whole set of strains.
Applications
• Genetic engineering
• Synthetic biology
• Gene function
• Drug target discovery
Advantages
• Rapid and easy method
• Low cost
• Low to no contamination
• High sample variability
• Maximum coverage of the genome
Publications
Michael Baym, Lev Shaket, Isao A. Anzai, Oluwakemi Adesina, and Buz Barstow. Rapid construction of a whole-genome transposon insertion collection for Shewanella oneidensis by knockout Sudoku. Nature Communications, 2016 Nov 10;7:13270.
Inventors
Buz Barstow is a research scholar in the Chemistry Department at Princeton. He received his MSci in Physics from Imperial College, London where his research concentrated on quantum optics, plasma physics and table-top nuclear fusion. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Cornell University under the direction of Sol Gruner, where he demonstrated the direct correlation of protein structure and function using high-pressure X-ray crystallography. As a postdoctoral fellow in Pamela Silver’s laboratory at Harvard Medical School, he focused on the evolution of biological hydrogen production and the engineering of electroactive bacteria. At Princeton, Buz is applying structural, systems and synthetic biology to the problems of energy and sustainability. Buz is a recipient of William Nichols Findley Award, NIH National Research Service Award, and Burroughs-Wellcome Career Award at the Scientific Interface and a finalist for the Gregorio Weber International Prize in Biological Fluorescence.
Michael Baym is a research fellow in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research focuses on experimental evolution and the development of mixed computational and experimental techniques for microbiology.
Lev Shaket was a research specialist in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University under the supervision of research scholar Buz Barstow. He obtained his A.B. degree with honors in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard University. He is currently serving in the U.S. Army. His work at Princeton was on the development of technologies to rapidly construct curated knockout or knock-in libraries for bacterial species of interest.
Isao Anzai is an undergraduate in the Class of 2017 studying Molecular Biology under the supervision of Buz Barstow and Nozomi Ando. He is investigating the genetic basis behind electron transfer in electroactive microorganisms using insights from Knockout Sudoku-generated whole genome knockout collections.
Oluwakemi Adesina is a Research Specialist in the Chemistry Department at Princeton University under the supervision of Dr. Buz Barstow. She is a recent graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, majored in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Oluwakemi is excited to continue exploring and understanding the mechanisms of extracellular electron transport in electroactive microbes in order to optimize microbial electro-synthesis to sustainable energy advancements. She hopes to bridge the benefits of sustainability and energy efficient technologies not only to the climate, but also to public health.
Intellectual Property & Development status
Patent protection is pending.
Princeton is currently seeking commercial partners for the further development and commercialization of this opportunity.
Contact
Michael R. Tyerech
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-6762• tyerech@princeton.edu
Sangeeta Bafna
Princeton University Office of Technology Licensing • (609) 258-5579• sbafna@princeton.edu