Pandemic's silver lining.

The intense international focus on the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to use a wide array of novel tools to carry out scientific studies on the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The value of these comparative studies extends far beyond their consequences for SARS-CoV-2, providing broad implications for health-related science. Here we specifically discuss the impacts of these comparisons on advances in vaccines, the analysis of host humoral immunity, and antibody discovery.

Simultaneous affinity maturation and developability enhancement using natural liability-free CDRs.

CDR: complementarity determining region; FACS: fluorescence-activated cell sorting; k: association rate; k: dissociation rate; K: dissociation constant; scFv: single-chain variable fragment; SPR: surface plasmon resonance.

Evaluating the Genomic Parameters Governing rAAV-Mediated Homologous Recombination.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors have the unique ability to promote targeted integration of transgenes via homologous recombination at specified genomic sites, reaching frequencies of 0.1%-1%. We studied genomic parameters that influence targeting efficiencies on a large scale.

In vivo blunt-end cloning through CRISPR/Cas9-facilitated non-homologous end-joining.

The CRISPR/Cas9 system facilitates precise DNA modifications by generating RNA-guided blunt-ended double-strand breaks. We demonstrate that guide RNA pairs generate deletions that are repaired with a high level of precision by non-homologous end-joining in mammalian cells. We present a method called knock-in blunt ligation for exploiting these breaks to insert exogenous PCR-generated sequences in a homology-independent manner without loss of additional nucleotides.

Hexameric GFP and mCherry reporters for the Drosophila GAL4, Q, and LexA transcription systems.

The ability to distinguish cells and tissues of interest is critical for understanding their biological importance. In genetic model organisms, a prominent approach for discerning particular cells or tissues from others is the use of cell or tissue-specific enhancers to drive fluorescent reporters. This approach, however, is often limited by the brightness of the fluorescent reporter.