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Erik J Sontheimer PhD

Professor and Vice Chair, RNA Therapeutics Institute, Pillar Chair in Biomedical Research

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Research Focus - CRISPR-Cas Biology and Genome Engineering Applications

  • Biology and mechanism of RNA-based gene regulation
  • CRISPR interference
  • RNA-directed genome editing and gene control

Representative Publications

  • Self-inactivating, all-in-one AAV vectors for precision Cas9 genome editing via homology-directed repair in vivo. Ibraheim R, Tai PWL, Mir A, Javeed N, Wang J, Rodríguez TC, Namkung S, Nelson S, Khokhar ES, Mintzer E, Maitland S, Chen Z, Cao Y, Tsagkaraki E, Wolfe SA, Wang D, Pai AA, Xue W, Gao G, Sontheimer EJ.Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 1;12(1):6267. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26518-y.PMID: 34725353 Read Publication
More Publications

In the News

  • UMass Chan scientists receive $2.3 million from Rett Syndrome Research Trust for new research
    Mar 4, 2024

    UMass Chan scientists receive $2.3 million from Rett Syndrome Research Trust for new research

    Rett syndrome is a rare genetic neurological disorder that occurs primarily in girls, eventually robbing them of the ability to speak, walk or use their hands, among other devastating effects.

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  • UMass Chan BRIDGE Fund invests nearly $2M in 13 faculty projects
    Aug 3, 2023

    UMass Chan BRIDGE Fund invests nearly $2M in 13 faculty projects

    The BRIDGE Fund supports critical research milestones for inventions and discoveries that have high potential to change the course of disease and continues to grow, increasing from approximately $1 million per year in 2019 to $3 million in 2024.

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  • Carolyn Kraus receives competitive Ruth L. Kirschstein award
    Jun 29, 2023

    Carolyn Kraus receives competitive Ruth L. Kirschstein award

    PhD candidate Carolyn Kraus has received an award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to develop a CRISPR/Cas9 tool for designing a safer Duchenne muscular dystrophy therapeutic.

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  • Erik Sontheimer co-leading efforts to develop gene editing toolkit by NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium
    Apr 7, 2021

    Erik Sontheimer co-leading efforts to develop gene editing toolkit by NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium

    Six UMass Medical School scientists are among the members of the National Institutes of Health’s Somatic Cell Genome Editing Consortium to publish a paper in Nature outlining the program’s goals.

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  • UMMS scientists to expand 4D nucleome research with $13 million NIH grants
    Oct 23, 2020

    UMMS scientists to expand 4D nucleome research with $13 million NIH grants

    Investigators at UMass Medical School have received two, five-year grants totaling $13 million to explore how the 4D genome structure influences gene expression, cellular function, development and disease as it reshapes itself. Job Dekker, PhD, and Paul Kaufman, PhD, to investigate architecture of genome as it changes over time.

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  • UMass Medical School appoints five faculty members to endowed chairs
    Jul 20, 2020

    UMass Medical School appoints five faculty members to endowed chairs

    Douglas T. Golenbock, MD; Gregory A. Volturo, MD; Anastasia Khvorova, PhD; Erik J. Sontheimer, PhD; and Jennifer A. Reidy, MD, have been named to endowed faculty posts at UMass Medical School.

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  • UMMS scientists receive $1.6M in NIH funding to improve genome editing techniques
    Dec 3, 2018

    UMMS scientists receive $1.6M in NIH funding to improve genome editing techniques

    Led by Guangping Gao, PhD, and Erik Sontheimer, PhD, scientists at UMass Medical School will work to develop technology to enable safe genome editing in patients, thanks to new grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.

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  • RNA Society honors Andrei Korostelev and Erik Sontheimer
    Nov 1, 2017

    RNA Society honors Andrei Korostelev and Erik Sontheimer

    The pre-eminent international organization for RNA researchers has named Andrei Korostelev, PhD, the recipient of its 2018 Early Career Award, and Erik Sontheimer, PhD, its 2018 Mid-Career Award winner. Both are faculty of the UMMS RNA Therapeutics Institute.

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  • Mar 6, 2017

    UMass Medical School innovation chosen for ‘STAT Madness’ contest

    UMass Medical School is competing in “STAT Madness,” an online, bracket-style competition run by the Boston Globe Media’s national health and science publication, Stat News, to find the best innovation in science and medicine--specifically, the discovery of the first off-switches for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing by Erik Sontheimer, PhD.

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  • UMMS scientists co-discover first ‘off-switches’ for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing
    Dec 8, 2016

    UMMS scientists co-discover first ‘off-switches’ for CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing

    Researchers at UMass Medical School and the University of Toronto have discovered the first known “off-switches” for CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, providing much greater control over the edits, according to a new study published in Cell. Erik Sontheimer, PhD, led the research at UMMS.

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  • Sassetti, Sontheimer elected fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology
    Mar 10, 2016

    Sassetti, Sontheimer elected fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology

    UMass Medical School scientists Christopher Sassetti, PhD, and Erik Sontheimer, PhD, have been recognized for their contributions to the field of microbiology and elected fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology.

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