Harvard Catalyst Profiles

In the Look lab, we are dedicated to identifying more effective and less toxic treatment options for children with solid tumors. In this project, we are focused on neuroblastoma- a pediatric tumor arising from the developing neural crest cells when differentiation goes awry. Retinoic acid (a vitamin A derivative also known as “Accutane”) forces neuroblastoma tumor cells to undergo growth arrest and to differentiate into peripheral sympathetic neurons. However, these effects are completely reversible once the treatment with retinoic acid is stopped, leading to tumor re-growth. We are eager to uncover the complexities of this process, focusing on how epigenetic mechanisms can influence neuroblastoma differentiation, and transform these insights into innovative therapies through drug and genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens. As the student in the lab, you will participate in a project dissecting the effects of an epigenetic modifying drug on neuroblastoma differentiation in vitro and study the subsequent changes of the chromatin using epigenetic profiling studies, including e.g. ChIP-Seq, ATAC-Seq, Cut&Run.