Date

Monday 16 Mar 2026

Time

10:00 - 10:30

Location

BW018

Supervisor

Rolf Boot

Jury

Marco van Eijk

Genome engineering has revolutionized biological research but still faces limitations regarding efficiency and target flexibility. Most of these tools originate from microbial mobile genetic elements (MGEs), shaped by evolution. To find solutions for the current limitations on genome editing, further classification of MGEs has shed light on the IS110 family of insertion sequences containing a unique recombination mechanism. These IS110 sequences encode a recombinase and a non-coding “bridge” RNA that mediates recognition of target and donor DNA for recombination. The bridge RNA nucleotides involved in recognition are highly programmable and provide flexible gene editing, including excision, insertion and inversion, of a large array of sequences containing a CT core dinucleotide. During recognition the bridge RNAs aid in synaptic complex formation and recombination takes place through single stranded DNA breaks and exchange forming a holiday junction intermediate in between. To adapt the system and enhance its activity in human cells, modifications to the recombinase and the bridge RNA has resulted in megabase scale gene editing of multiple human cell lines with efficiencies rivalling that of currently used methods.