Feng Zhang (@zhangf) / X

Feng Zhang

294 posts

Feng Zhang

@zhangf

Engineer and molecular biologist. Curious about the world and optimistic to make it better.

Cambridge, MA

Joined April 2015

Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Jun 28, 2023
Since the discovery of CRISPR-Cas systems, people have wondered if a similar type of system exists in eukaryotes. Today, we report in @Nature the characterization of Fanzor, a eukaryotic RNA-guided system that can be reprogrammed for human genome editing.
Fanzor is a eukaryotic programmable RNA-guided endonuclease
From nature.com
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
May 5, 2020
We are excited to share STOPCovid, an inexpensive, one-step, & sensitive #COVID-19 detection protocol developed with @omarabudayyeh & @jgooten. This revamped assay was streamlined with the future goal of developing an in-home test for COVID-19. zlab.bio/s/COVID-19-det… 1/X
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Sep 9, 2021
CRISPR technologies are powerful gene editing tools because they are programmable. We are excited to describe 3 new programmable systems, IscB, IsrB, and TnpB, some of the most abundant genes on the planet, with potential for gene editing. @ScienceMagazine science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Aug 19, 2021
We are really excited to share our work on a new modular RNA delivery technology called SEND, built from endogenous components found in the mammalian genome. @ScienceMagazine science.sciencemag.org/content/373/65…
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Mar 29, 2023
Delivery of therapeutic molecules is a major bottleneck for treating a wide range of diseases. Today we describe a new modality for delivering proteins based on an engineered contractile injection system @Nature nature.com/articles/s4158…
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Apr 7, 2023
Our genomes are littered with *junk* DNA known as LINE retrotransposons, which are powerful enzymes that can insert DNA into the genome. We are excited to report the structure of the LINE family member R2 and ways to engineer it for programmable gene insertion. Congratulations to
Max Wilkinson
@maxewilkinson
Apr 6, 2023
How do LINE family retrotransposons jump around? Can we reprogram retrotransposons? What does this have to do with Rum and Raisin? Answers here and below!
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Feb 27, 2025
We are excited to report the discovery of TIGRs, a widely-occurring RNA-guided system found in bacteria and their viruses. TIGRs consist of a peculiar repeat region which is transcribed into RNA and processed into multiple guide RNAs to direct TIGR-associated proteins to their
science.org
TIGR-Tas: A family of modular RNA-guided DNA-targeting systems in prokaryotes and their viruses
RNA-guided systems provide remarkable versatility, enabling diverse biological functions. Through iterative structural and sequence homology-based mining starting with a guide RNA-interaction domain...
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Apr 6, 2020
Extracting RNA from patient swab samples has been a bottleneck for #COVID19 #coronavirus testing. See here for a simple 5-min protocol from swab to RT-qPCR. zlab.bio/s/Ladha-et-al.…
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Feb 14, 2020
Today we are sharing a research protocol for SHERLOCK-based COVID-19 #coronavirus detection, and hope it will help others who are working to combat the outbreak. We will continue to update this as we make further progress: static1.squarespace.com/static/5b7c640…
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Nov 29, 2023
Thrilled to announce our latest exploration of CRISPR! By developing an advanced algorithm, we’ve analyzed 8 terabases of microbial data, leading to the discovery of over 200 novel CRISPR systems. Kudos to @altaetran and @soumya_kannan12 for their exceptional work! Details in the
Han Altae-Tran
@altaetran
Nov 28, 2023
Our latest work exploring ultra rare CRISPR systems with new big data algorithms has been published by @ScienceMagazine! @zhangf @soumya_kannan12. This thread will unwrap how we found needles in a haystack of metagenomes. Let's dive in! (1/8) doi.org/10.1126/scienc…
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Aug 31, 2021
CRISPR systems are quite diverse, including some, like CRISPR-Cas13, which target RNA. @soumya_kannan12 & @altaetran found tiny versions of Cas13b (Cas13bt) that can be used to create RNA editors small enough to fit into a single AAV for in vivo delivery. nature.com/articles/s4158…
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Mar 27, 2024
Very cool - rejuvenation of the immune system!
Depleting myeloid-biased haematopoietic stem cells rejuvenates aged immunity
From nature.com
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Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Aug 11, 2022
Did you know there are lots of similarities between the innate immune systems of animals/plants and the phage defense systems in bacteria? Check out our new study by the amazing trio Alex (Linyi) Gao, @maxewilkinson, and @thestrecker. Congratulations! science.org/doi/abs/10.112….
science.org
Prokaryotic innate immunity through pattern recognition of conserved viral proteins
Bacteria and archaea have innate immune receptors that recognize conserved viral proteins and prevent infection.
Feng Zhang
@zhangf
Aug 30, 2024
Nature is amazing! Congratulations to @maxewilkinson and team on a beautiful study revealing a clever way that bacteria defend against viruses. Check out Max’s posts for more detail!
Max Wilkinson
@maxewilkinson
Aug 29, 2024
My favourite discovery ever has just come online. Can I please tell you about some seriously wacky molecular biology? The story starts with a reverse transcriptase that SOMEHOW defends bacteria from viruses. (👇 I recommend sound ON for the video 🎹) 1/
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science.org
Phage-triggered reverse transcription assembles a toxic repetitive gene from a noncoding RNA
Reverse transcription has frequently been co-opted for cellular functions and in prokaryotes is associated with protection against viral infection, but the underlying mechanisms of defense are...
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