Bo Huang

Watching the inner life of the cell: CRISPR, GFP and imagenomics

Cellular processes are orchestrated by a large number of protein and nucleic acid molecules in a small volume. In order to elucidate how they work together, we are developing labeling and microscopy methods that can systematically map their spatial distribution, activity profile and temporal dynamics. To uncover how the physical organization of the genome regulates its function, we have developed the method to visualize endogenous genomic elements in living cells by repurposing the CRISPR/Cas9 system. We have further added the capability to simultaneously track multiple genomic loci in different colors, and to correlate live images with sequential fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). On the other hand, for proteins, we have developed a scalable method to label endogenous human genes with split fluorescent proteins, enabling both microscopy and biochemical analysis. This method paves the way for the large-scale generation of endogenously tagged human cell lines for the proteome-wide analysis of protein localization and interaction networks in a native cellular context.