CRISPR-Cas systems have revolutionized genetic engineering and led to novel genetic medicines. As powerful as these systems are, they have some disadvantages such as their large size and a lack of orientation bias which limits their therapeutic usage. CRISPR-associated transposons (CASTs) are mobile genetic elements that use CRISPR-Cas systems for RNA-guided transposition. CASTs may represent the next generation of genome editors due to their enhanced features relative to CRISPR-Cas. Yet, CASTs still require further optimization to realize this potential.

Dr. Jung-Un Park will engineer novel forms of CASTs to optimize properties for genome editing in Dr. David Savage’s lab at the University of California, Berkeley. Using structural biology, biochemistry, and protein engineering approaches, Dr. Park will enhance the activity of individual CAST proteins, as well as tune the functional association between different CAST proteins. Ultimately, Park’s research will provide vast insight into genome editing and may result in the next generation of gene editing technologies.

Park’s interest in CAST biology stems from his graduate work in Dr. Elizabeth Kellogg’s lab at Cornell University. There, he solved structures for CAST that informed on both RNA-guided and RNA-independent transposition. Park will leverage his extensive knowledge of CAST structural details to optimize this system for genome editing during his postdoctoral work.