The Genome Engineering team assists Stowers Institute researchers in the precise and specific alteration of genetic material of research organisms and cultured cells.
The Genome Engineering team provides expertise in CRISPR technology and its application in several model systems, including mouse, zebrafish, cavefish, fruit fly, sea anemone, apple snail, and cultured cell lines. Projects begin with the custom design and preparation of guideRNA and homology-directed repair donor templates. Next, the team uses these custom molecular reagents to engineer cultured cell lines directly. For animal model projects, the team prepares the custom reagents and hands them off to the Stowers’ animal technology centers and researchers for embryo delivery.
To identify the engineered mutations, the team provides a targeted deep sequencing service. This allows quick identification of successfully mutated samples and enables the team to process hundreds of animal tissue and cell samples each week.
The Genome Engineering team also provides support for pooled screens. These services encompass genome-wide CRISPR screens, nanobody screens, site-saturation mutagenesis, or novel pooled screens. Services include building or acquiring new pooled libraries and the preparation and validation of libraries by next-generation sequencing. Following a screen, the resulting cell populations are processed by the team for genomic DNA purification, target amplification, and next-generation sequencing.
Genome Engineering now offers a service utilizing TAIL-PCR to identify random integration events. The team has successfully used this method in killifish, sea anemone, fruit fly, and zebrafish.
The team is also responsible for maintaining and distributing 137,000+ clones and vectors. The thirty-four collections of clones include yeast, fly, mouse, human, and expression vectors.
Team Contact
Head, Genome Engineering
Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Kym Delventhal joined the Institute in 2003 and served numerous roles on the former Molecular Biology Team where, in 2012, she started a genome engineering service that expanded rapidly. In 2019, she became Head of Genome Engineering. In this role, she manages a team that utilizes the transformative CRISPR technology for multiple applications across the Institute and drives collaborations with other Stowers technology centers.
Delventhal graduated from Kansas State University in 2003 with degrees in microbiology and chemistry. While there, she was a research assistant in the Wheat Genetics Resource Center. Delventhal has been a member of the Association of Biomolecular Resource Facilities (ABRF) since 2007. In 2014, she was a founding member of the Genome Editing Research Group and has served as chair from 2017-2019 and 2021-2022. Delventhal was recently elected to the ABRF Executive Board for 2022-2025.
The Genome Engineering team manages projects to generate knockouts, large insertions and deletions, and point mutations in various model organisms. The team customizes each project to produce it as efficiently as possible and use the latest CRISPR technology methods.
Additional services are offered for pooled screens, TAIL-PCR, and clone and vector collections.
Pooled screen support includes building and validating pooled libraries and processing samples resulting from pooled screens.
The TAIL-PCR service locates random integration events in genomic DNA.
The Institute’s clone and vector collections are maintained and distributed to in-house researchers and contain greater than 137,000 clones for yeast, fly, mouse, and human.
All genome engineering projects start with a targeted double-strand break and the design of a guideRNA. For large insertion projects that require a homology-directed repair donor template, the team designs and produces long single-stranded DNA.
These services include mammalian cell line modification using custom CRISPR reagents. This comprises treating the cell line, maintenance of cells, and single-cell clone identification. In collaboration with Stowers’ animal technology centers, the Genome Engineering team prepares custom CRISPR reagents for the delivery to embryos.
Each week the team processes hundreds of samples from cells and animal tissues to detect and identify the precisely engineered mutations. The powerful workflow the team has built around targeted deep sequencing enables the successful completion of genome engineering projects.
A pooled screen is a powerful way to look across a genome or a massive number of sequences to identify important genes of interest, effects on expression, or significant sequence motifs.
The Genome Engineering team acquires, prepares, and validates pooled libraries as an Institute resource. To coordinate the total pooled screen workflow, the team collaborates with other teams to track the progress of these projects. Once resulting cell populations from a screen are delivered, the team does genomic DNA purification, target amplification, and preparation for NGS.
Press Release
24 January 2023
Researchers have discovered what prolonged physical inactivity may mean for humans many thousands of years down the road by studying cavefish.
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News
01 July 2019
Over the ages, these classic song lyrics have taught countless children how their bodies are knitted together. But have you ever wondered why they fit together that way?
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News
27 September 2018
Researchers from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have opened a window on another piece of evolutionary biology.
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Conkright-Fincham J, Tomomori-Sato C, McGhee R, Leslie EM, Beucher CJ, Weems LE, Sato S, Redwine WB, Weaver KJ, Miller BD, Delventhal KM, Kary JJ, Koebbe AB, Dean A, Witt JL, Remy LM, Parmely TJ, Zhao C, Wang Y, Conaway JW, Unruh JR. Bio-protocol. 2022;12:e4301. doi: 4310.21769/BioProtoc.24301.
Weems JC, Slaughter BD, Unruh JR, Weaver KJ, Miller BD, Delventhal KM, Conaway JW, Conaway RC. J Biol Chem. 2021;297:100862.
Ikmi A, McKinney SA, Delventhal KM, Gibson MC. Nat Commun. 2014;5:5486, doi10.1038/ncomms6486.
Starting a TALEN core facility
Delventhal K. Journal of Biomolecular Techniques: JBT 24(Suppl) May 2013
Friederichs JM, Ghosh S, Smoyer CJ, McCroskey S, Miller BD, Weaver KJ, Delventhal KM, Unruh J, Slaughter BD, Jaspersen SL. PLoS Genet. 2011;7:e1002365.
Mutations in the MESP2 gene cause Spondylothoracic Dysostosis/Jarcho-Levin Syndrome
Cornier AS, Staehling-Hampton K, Delventhal KM, Saga Y, Caubet JF, Sasaki N, Ellard S, Young E, Ramirez N, Carlo SE, Torres J, Emans JB, Turnpenny PD, Pourquié O. Am J Hum Genet. 2008;82:1334-1341.
