Understanding Human Biology with iPSC Derived Cell Types in the Era of CRISPR Technology

With the application and optimization of CRISPR genome editing technology, researchers have been able to investigate the functions of many individual genes and also perform large scale genetic screening across specific cellular phenotypes to better understand human biology. Now with the power of iPSC technology, we are entering a new era of in vitro human developmental and disease modeling across many areas of biology, including but not limited to immunological disorders, blood disorders, cardiac development and disease, kidney disease and neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative diseases.The goal of this Research Topic is to standardize and disseminate methods for implementing functional genomics technologies in iPSC-derived models to facilitate future advances. This collection of articles will bring together experts in iPSC-derived models across areas of development and disease biology who are working with CRISPR technologies to further our understanding of human biology. Because strategies to manipulate and screen in iPSC-derived models may be applicable across disease areas, aligning protocol development across different areas of biological expertise is likely to provide broad value to researchers in many diverse fields of biology. In addition, the resources provided will be valuable to iPSC modeling experts who have no or little experience with applying CRISPR-based approaches in their model of interest but are interested in learning more. We invite submissions of all article types covering, but not limited to, the following areas:

• iPSC-derived cell types with CRISPR-generated genetic manipulations that allow for investigation of the function of specific disease- or developmentally-relevant genes or mutations

• Implementation of large-scale CRISPR i/a screening platforms in iPSCs to investigate human biology

• Phenotypic assays in iPSC-derived cells that are amenable to high-throughput screening approaches, including FACS-based, microscopy-based, and single cell readouts

• Next-generation iPSC-derived model systems that can be utilized as screening platforms, including co-culture and organoid-based approaches and assays

• Summaries on recent advances made in areas related to incorporating CRISPR-based approaches in iPSC-derived cell models

Please note, that studies consisting solely of bioinformatic investigation of publicly available genomic or transcriptomic data do not fall within the scope of the journal unless they are expanded and provide significant biological or mechanistic insight into the process being studied.