Shai Zilberzwige-Tal
@zilberzwige
Post doctoral fellow |Feng Zhang Lab| @BroadInstitute @MIT. Former PhD student @GazitLab, @TelAvivUni
RNA-guided systems span kingdoms, from bacterial immunity to eukaryotic gene regulation. How did they evolve? We traced the origins of CRISPR-Cas13 and identified its likely ancestor: an RNA-based toxin-antitoxin (TA) system. Here’s what we uncovered: cell.com/cell/fulltext/… 1/8
Truly inspiring to see something so beautifully inspired by nature. @GraceKC did it again!!
Can we use RNA to insert kilobases of DNA into the human genome, opening up a new way to engineer cells or treat disease? Excited to share our latest work turning a retrotransposon (a “jumping gene” with an RNA intermediate) from songbirds into a genome editing tool. 🧵 (1/7)
Excited to share our new paper in @NAR_Open, led by Liron Didi! We show for the first time that RNA editing affects protein sequence, function, and disulfide bond formation in bacteria. Read more: academic.oup.com/nar/article/53… #RNAediting #Microbiology @TPilpel
NEW: We’re shedding light on Hamas’s playbook to try to shut down the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. They hate us because our model is working. We have delivered 56 million meals in just one month, and for the first time ever, aid is going directly to civilians, not terror…
It was the privilege of a lifetime to study computer science at MIT. But when it became clear that the university would not protect me from the ongoing harassment and threats, I had no choice but to leave my Ph.D. program and abandon my dream. All because I am Jewish.
In the nucleus, many intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) form condensates. What IDP sequence features drive this behavior? We developed CondenSeq, a high-throughput method to measure nuclear condensate formation & applied it to ~14000 IDPs to find out rdcu.be/eq975
Author selfie — but this one feels different. Our newest @sabeti_lab paper came out in Science just as conflict escalated between Israel and Iran, Shira’s and my birth countries. A painful reminder of how fragile the world can be. But also a reminder of what’s possible: that…
Registration is still open… Join us in “viruses across domains of life”.
Llamas, dolphins and measles? Oh my! So thankful this story is finally breaking containment from my time in the @MangusoLab. Using pieces from viruses and llamas we engineered selective cell specific viral like particles with reduced immunogenicity for in vivo gene delivery
Talk about timing! Presented our work on how RNA-guided mechanisms evolved at the Immune System of Bacteria symposium @institutpasteur—on the same day our Cell paper dropped!
In the latest issue! Reprogrammable RNA-targeting CRISPR systems evolved from RNA toxin-antitoxins dlvr.it/TK21Y8
This Friday, @MIT is co-sponsoring a talk glorifying Ghassan Kanafani—a spokesperson for the PFLP terrorist group who helped coordinate the murder of 26 people in the Lod Airport Massacre. The speaker, Susan Abulhawa, praised 10/7 as a “spectacular moment.” Why is MIT continuing…
מי היה מאמין שאחד הכלים הכי חזקים להנדסה גנטית הגיע בכלל מחיידקים? לפני כשנתיים החלטתי לחקור איך מערכות כמו CRISPR התפתחו בטבע—ומה עוד הן מסתירות. מה גיליתי על הדרך? מוזמנים לקרוא בכתבה!
בקטנה: ממנגנון השמדה עצמית לטיל מונחה מערכות ביולוגיות שמשתמשות ב־RNA כדי להכווין חלבונים כך שיפעלו במיקום ספציפי, המוכרות גם כמערכות מונחות RNA, הן בעלות תפקידים רבים ואומצו במהרה על ידי חוקרים בהנדסה גנטית ככלי עבודה מרכזי ⬇️ מאת: שי זילברצוויג־טל @zilberzwige
#CRISPR revolutionized medicine, but where did its RNA-guided mechanisms come from? Using #AI, we unearthed new Cas13s and found they evolved from toxin-antitoxins, revealing how nature created these amazing reprogrammable molecules. Discover the recipe: doi.org/10.1016/j.cell…