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Functional Genomics R&D
We are a team dedicated to developing advanced technologies to manipulate the genome and understand gene function.
Pooled screening enables functional genomics at scale. We love pooled screens!
Building on years of expertise in RNAi-based screening, our team was among the first to implement CRISPR-based screening. Today, we continue to push the boundaries of functional genomics, making major contributions to guide RNA design, novel screening strategies, and CRISPR technology expansions, including CRISPR activation (CRISPRa), interference (CRISPRi), and base editing. Our recent technological innovations include advancing Cas12a for genetic screens, as well as developing Fragmid, a Golden Gate-based modular assembly platform that enables the high-throughput assembly of vectors and libraries.
CRISPR technologies provide numerous ways to perturb genetic information
Impact
A core pillar of our culture is "reduction-to-practice" – ensuring that cutting-edge tools are robust enough to work in diverse and challenging model systems. By pressure-testing our existing tools, and collaborating broadly, we identify where new approaches are needed and rapidly disseminate best practices. We strive to make our resources broadly accessible:
CRISPick: Our custom web portal, launched in 2014, is accessed over 200 times per day by researchers worldwide.
Addgene: Our genome-wide CRISPR libraries have been distributed to the scientific community over 3,000 times.
Collaboration: We have worked with well dozens of research groups on gene function discovery projects, both within the Broad community and beyond. Our collaborative efforts have yielded over 120 publications in the past 5 years.
History
Our R&D team thrives within a much larger, highly collaborative ecosystem.
The RNAi Platform was one of the original Broad Platforms, founded under the leadership of Dr. David Root, and following the development of CRISPR technology in the early 2010s, we changed our name to the Genetic Perturbation Platform (GPP).
Driven by a team of approximately 35 professional scientists, including production specialists, software engineers, and project managers, we have designed, produceded, maintained, and distributed large-scale reagents, including numerous pooled and arrayed libraries for CRISPR, RNAi, and ORF screening. This infrastructure has allowed us to tackle ambitious, long-term initiatives, most notably the Cancer Dependency Map, executing over 1,700 pooled screens over the past 15 years.
More recently, as part of the Platform Innovation Labs (PIL), our R&D group collaborates alongside other technology-focused teams. By uniting complementary expertise within a single organizational framework, PIL translates early-stage methodologies into robust, production-scale platforms that drive discovery across academic and biopharma ecosystems.
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