Andrew Santiago-Frangos
University of Pennsylvania, PA·Biochemistry·Early-career
Bacteria fight off viruses called phages using CRISPR, an immune system that stores snippets of past invaders' DNA and uses them to recognize repeat attacks. CRISPR tools have changed science and medicine.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Microbiology & Immunology
Biophysics
- Topics
Cas1
Cas2
CRISPR adaptation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2027
What they work on
- Find conserved DNA motifs in CRISPR leader sequences that may control spacer integration, transcription or RNA processing, using a bioinformatic search across CRISPR systems.
- Determine how the Cas1-Cas2 integration complex, along with leader motifs and host factors, finds the leader end of the CRISPR locus, using in vitro biochemical assays and cryo-EM structures.
- Uncover how new bacterial immune proteins are activated by cyclic oligonucleotide messengers made by the Csm complex, defining their biochemical activities and structures.
More about the research
Yet new CRISPR systems are being discovered faster than anyone can work out what they do in bacteria or how they might be put to use.
Why it matters
Learning how CRISPR systems capture viral DNA and send immune signals adds basic knowledge about how bacteria defend themselves. These mechanisms could be repurposed for biotechnology and medicine. One example, building on the team's Csm-based SARS-CoV-2 test, is rapid and sensitive RNA-guided diagnostics for detecting viruses.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jack Dunkle
University of Alabama, AL·Biochemistry
Test whether mismatches at specific sensitive positions in the guide RNA-target RNA duplex shut down interference by the Cas10-Csm complex, defining the accuracy rules for RNA-targeting Type III CRISPR-Cas systems.
Scott Bailey
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Biochemistry
Determine how CRISPR-associated proteins use small guide RNAs to locate and destroy foreign DNA or RNA in prokaryotes, using cryo-EM structures together with biochemical, biophysical and cell-based assays.
Aneel Aggarwal
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Biochemistry
Determine how the CBASS anti-phage system, which signals through cyclic oligonucleotides, becomes allosterically activated to trigger abortive infection and protect a bacterial population.
The school
University of Pennsylvania: 90 labs on PI Pages, $2.2B a year on research, 750 research doctorates a year.
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