Harvard Catalyst Profiles

Our lab develops high-throughput precision CRISPR-Cas9 screening technologies to investigate the genetic basis of disease. We have several opportunities available in improving these technologies and applying them to study genetic disease. In one such project, we are using CRISPR base editing screens to dissect mechanisms by which common variation (identified in GWAS) and rare coding variants contribute to cholesterol levels and genetic disease. Students would develop and apply precise CRISPR methods to perform and analyze these data.

Our lab (http://sherwoodlab.bwh.harvard.edu/) is a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative environment that combines CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and genomic screening approaches with cutting edge machine learning and computational genetics approaches to understand how genomic variants contribute to complex human disease and to develop genetic treatments. We have developed a number of innovative, unpublished screening platforms to understand lipid and cholesterol metabolism, which we are applying to better understand and diminish cardiovascular risk. Wet-lab and computational projects are available for students.

The Sherwood Lab in the Division of Genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School is a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative environment that combines CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and genomic screening approaches with cutting edge machine learning and computational genetics approaches to understand how genomic variants contribute to complex human disease and to develop genetic treatments. In particular, we have developed several novel high-throughput CRISPR screening assays to study lipid homeostasis, and we are combining these scalable genetic screening platforms with analysis of UK Biobank quantitative serum lipid data to deepen understanding of genetic contribution to lipid levels. An experimentally-focused student would apply cutting-edge CRISPR techniques such as base and prime editing toward these questions, and a computational student would analyze UK Biobank cohort data in concert with our cellular screening results.