The Genome Stability and Editing Laboratory
LATEST NEWS
February, 2024
DR. MASHAYEKHI HAS JOINED OUR TEAM!
We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Fatemeh Mashayekhi has joined our team as a postdoctoral fellow!
Fatemeh has recently graduated from the Oncology Program at the University of Alberta where she established herself as a rising star in genomic instability.
During her Ph.D, Fatemeh has made significant contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms that promote genomic integrity. Her research revealed a novel and critical role for the polyphosphate kinase phosphatase, PNKP, in responding to replication stress. Her work has resulted in 2 high-profile first author publications in JBC and Cell Reports!
Fatemeh has also led multiple fruitful collaborations, co-authoring 8 articles in top-tiers journal, including NAR, Cell Reports and JBC. Fatemeh's leadership is also demonstrated by earning 15 international awards and prizes, and multiple prestigious scholarships, like the Yau Family Foundation, Delnor Scholarship and Catherine Jugdutt Memorial Scholarship for excellence in cancer research!
In our lab, Fatemeh will spearhead an innovative research program focused on the development of a translational framework for correcting disease-causing mutations using CRISPR-based technologies.
We are excited to welcome you in the lab, and look forward to your contributions to the field of genome editing and their applications to therapeutics!
Interested in joining our team in Calgary, Canada? See how to apply here.
February, 2024
OUR TEAM CONTRIBUTES TO A STUDY ON DNA DAMAGE REPAIR
Our collaboration with Dr. Goodarzi and Dr. Williams's labs has been published in Nature Communications
We are excited that our contribution to determining the role of CHD6 in DNA damage repair has been published in Nature Communications.
This work led by the Goodarzi and Williams' labs at the University of Calgary elucidates the functional role of CHD6 in response to PARP inhibitors. Congratulations to the Goodarzi and WIlliams' labs for this tour de force!
Read more about this work here.
February, 2024
RADIO CANADA FEATURES THE LAB'S WORK
The lab's work has been featured in a written and video article from Radio Canada
We are excited that the lab's work on precision genome editing has caught the attention of the National media once again!
Read the written article here.
Watch the video presentation of our work here (at 2 min).
Read more about our lab... in the media
February, 2024
THE BILLON LAB REPRESENTED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
Pierre has been attending and presenting at international conferences
Pierre has been attending international conferences in Palm Springs and Hawaï for the Deaminet conference on base and prime editing, and the TANDEM meetings on transplantation & cellular therapy meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR.
Pierre has had the opportunity to present the lab's recent work and making new connections and collaborations that will enhance our future work.
Read about our ongoing work here.
February, 2024
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Today the world is celebrating women scientists!
Congratulations to all the women scientists in the world! Science is better and stronger with you.
Thank you for what all the women in the lab, we are honored and privileged to work everyday with such powerful women in our lab!
February, 2024
SHRIYA HAS GRADUATED HER M.Sc
We are happy to announce that Shriya Iyer has graduated her M.Sc!
We congratulate Shriya Iyer on successfully completing her M.Sc. degree in our lab. We wish you best of luck in the rest of your career.
September, 2024
PIERRE HAS BEEN SELECTED AS A "Top 40 Under 40" BY THE AVENUE MAGAZINE!
Our work in innovative science has been recognized by the Avenue Magazine
We proudly announce that Pierre has been recognized as one of Avenue Magazine's Top 40 Under 40. This prestigious annual list celebrates young professionals (under 40 years old) based on their professional achievements, leadership qualities, and contributions to their respective fields.
Above all, this recognition celebrates the dedication, leadership, and innovative thinking of the students and staff in the Billon Lab, whose individual scientific skills and talent advance innovative science every days in the lab. Congratulations!
Read the article here.
More information can be found here.
September, 2024
THE LAB PUBLISHES IN STAR Protocols
Our lab presents a point-by-point protocol to conduct One-pot DTECT for the detection of prime editing in human cells
Congratulations to Jethro and Lou for publishing a point-by-point procedure on how to perform One-pot DTECT in human cells. In this paper they describe how to detect multiple PCNA mutations introduced using prime editing.
Read this paper here.
September, 2024
JETHRO AWARDED PRESTIGIOUS PHILLIPS EMERGING CANCER SCHOLARSHIP
Congratulations, Jethro, on being recognized for your work with the Phillips Emerging Cancer Scholarship!
This scholarship recognizes students with exceptional academic performance and research excellence in the field of cancer.
Learn more about this Scholarship Program here.
We are thrilled to announce that Jethro has received another prestigious scholarship for his outstanding Ph.D. work on cancer!
April, 2024
THE LAB PUBLISHES IN CELL !
We are excited to announce our contribution to the publication of an important discovery in the prestigious journal Cell.
This work, led by the Gallo team at Baylor College of Medicine, reveals TULIPs, unique 3D genomic structures in PFA ependymoma, a devastating paediatric brain cancer. These structures reorganize chromatin architecture, offering new insights into tumor development and potential therapeutic targets.
Congratulations to the Gallo team for this breakthrough discovery and thank you for including us in this important work!
Find the article here.
Our lab has contributed to a recent highly impactful research published in Cell
April, 2024
LISA AND DYLAN JOIN THE LAB FOR THE SUMMER!
We are pleased to announce that Lisa Xie from McGill University and Dylan Remington from Queen's University have joined our lab for the summer! They bring their enthusiasm for science to contribute to our efforts on studying genome stability and editing.
We are very happy to welcome you in the lab, we really hope that you will enjoy your time with us, and we are excited to see what you will achieve in the lab!
Welcome, Lisa and Dylan!
Lisa and Dylan are starting their summer internship in our lab!
April, 2024
JADA RECEIVES THE PRESTIGIOUS CIHR SCHOLARSHIP
We proudly announce that Jada has been awarded the prestigious CIHR scholarship for her M.Sc. with us.
Congratulations, Jada! We are very proud of you. This award highlights your potential as a scientist and the quality of your work. We look forward to witnessing all your future achievements in the lab during grad school!
Jada is starting her M.Sc in the lab with the CIHR Scholarship!
January, 2024
NAVNEET AWARDED THE ROBSON RISING STAR SCHOLARSHIP
Congratulations to Navneet who has been distinguished with the highly competitive Robson DNA Science Center Rising Star Scholarship for her work on DNA damage repair!
We are very proud of your work and it's just the beginning of your Ph.D. journey!
Navneet's hard work is rewarded with the Robson Rising Star Scholarship!
September, 2023
THE LAB'S WORK IS FEATURED IN A VIDEO
You can discover our team's effort to create cures for genetic diseases in children and to better treat childhood cancers is shown in this video from the Alberta's Children's Hospital Foundation.
We are thrilled to continue working with Dr. Wright and Dr. Mahoney on these important projects, with more big breakthroughs coming soon!
Our work focused on correcting genetic defects and treating cancer in children is featured in a video for a fundraising event
Watch the video here and feel free to share it around.
Want to make an impact by being part of this work? Please apply here by following the instructions
September, 2023
THE LAB IS FEATURED IN THE AVENUE MAGAZINE!
Pierre was interviewed by the September/October 2023 edition of the Avenue Magazine for the lab recent work on genome editing and cancer.
Find the article here (page 141)
Our recent work has been highlighted in the Avenue Magazine!
June, 2023
THE LAB WELCOMES DEWUNI AS A SUMMER STUDENT!
We are excited to introduce Dewuni De Silva, a highly talented Undergraduate Student from the Biomedical Sciences Program at the University of Calgary, who has joined our laboratory for the summer! Dewuni will be at the forefront of expanding the boundaries of prime editing-based approaches.
Dewuni's ambitious goal is to advance the potential of the emerging prime editing-based tools for the treatment of human genetic diseases and towards combating human cancers.
We look forward to witnessing the remarkable discoveries and development that you will make during your journey with us!
Discover our Team Members: here
Want to join us? Follow the requirements on how to apply: here
We are excited to announce that Dewuni De Silva has joined our lab for the summer
May, 2023
SHRIYA AND JETHRO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS SCHOLARSHIPS!
We are thrilled to announce that Shriya and Jethro have received highly competitive scholarships!
We are proud to announce that two members of our team, Shriya and Jethro, have been distinguished with two prestigious and highly competitive Scholarships for their leadership and academic achievements!
Shriya was recognized for her leadership skills and stellar performance during Undergrad! She is the recipient of the Cumming School of Medicine Graduate Scholarship
For his outstanding work as a M.Sc in our lab, Jethro was awarded the Recruitment Scholarship to further his academic journey as he transitions to his Ph.D. in our lab!
We are thrilled that your hard work is being acclaimed by our scientific community through these prestigious scholarships! More success are coming for you!
Congratulations and continue to make us proud of you!
May, 2023
JEREMIE JOINS PERELMAN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Jérémie has joined the Song Lab in the vibrant community at the Perelman School of Medicine. We wish you best of luck in your new scientific adventure!
We are happy to announce that Jérémie Fages has joined the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia as a postdoc
March, 2023
NEXT-GENERATION CRISPR TECHNOLOGIES: REVOLUTIONIZING HEALTHCARE - WATCH OUR TED-STYLE TALK AND PANEL DISCUSSION
We are excited to share a TED-style talk and panel discussion on the groundbreaking impact of next-generation CRISPR technologies on our health and society!
During the talk, delivered live at the Cracking the Cancer Code event, Pierre explored how scientists have gone from observing mysterious DNA elements in microbe genomes to creating life-changing medicines. The panel also discusses the future of gene therapy and next-generation genome editing, and how these technologies will continue to revolutionize healthcare.
Watch the event here
Pierre discusses the transformative power of CRISPR and its potential impact on the future of healthcare
February, 2023
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WOMEN IN SCIENCE
Today the world is celebrating women scientists!
Congratulations to all the women scientists in the world! Science is better and stronger with you.
Thank you for what all the women in the lab, we are honored and privileged to work everyday with such powerful women in our lab!
January, 2023
SHRIYA JOINS OUR LAB!
We are excited to announce that Shriya Iyer has joined our lab for her M.Sc studies!
Shriya earned her B.Sc from Amity University in UAE. Shriya excelled academically, consistently ranking at the top of her classes with almost exclusively A+ and A grades in all courses! Moreover, for her impressive Undergraduate honor thesis, Shriya was one of only three students to earn a perfect GPA of 10/10 in the Department of approximately 150 students.
Shriya's creativity and high productivity have resulted in the publication of 5 articles on nanotechnologies, which can be read here.
With her outstanding leadership, Shriya has also received a prestigious international award from the World Expo Organisation in Dubai on the theme "connecting minds, creating the future". Shriya was recognized among >50,000 participants from 192 countries.
In the lab, Shriya is studying the interplay between DNA damage repair mechanisms and precision genome editing technologies.
We are excited to have you in our lab. Welcome, Shriya!
Want to join the lab? Apply here
January, 2023
CIHR FUNDS GROUNDBREAKING CLINICAL TRIAL IN COLLABORATION WITH DR. NICOLA WRIGHT
Our collaboration with Dr. Nicola Wright to start a base editing clinical trial has been funded by the CIHR!
We are thrilled to announce that our collaboration with Dr. Nicola Wright, to conduct a clinical trial using base editing has been funded by the CIHR! Dr. Wright aims to treat patients in Calgary suffering from C3delta SCID disorder.
We are very excited to be part of this exciting collaboration led by Dr. Wright, which will pave the way to the development of a unique framework for the correction of a wide range of genetic diseases in Canada!
Discover more about our recently published work on base editing here, and apply (following these guidelines) if you want to become part of our team.
Click here to read the press release by the Government of Canada.
December, 2022
A FIRST CANCER PATIENT TREATED WITH BASE EDITED T-CELLS
Base edited T-cells cure a 13-year-old cancer patient!
An incredible news has shaken the world!
Researchers have successfully used engineered T cells to eliminate cancer in a 13-year-old girl diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The team used base editing to inactivate the CD7 and TRBC genes by introducing premature STOP codons, which effectively shut off the genes. The injection of base edited T-cells in the patient was successful in eliminating the cancer!
In 2017, our team demonstrated that eukaryotic genes can be inactivated by introducing premature STOP codons using base editing (read our original publication here). We are excited that our work could contribute to this extraordinary news! Congratulations to all the researchers in the world who are working tirelessly to develop and enhance base editing to make this happen!
Some news articles: