# Cellular Response to Genetic Change

> **NIH NIH R35** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $600,953

## Abstract

Abstract/Summary (Andrew Fire PI, NIGMS R35GM130366, January 2023)
Our lab studies the mechanisms by which cells and organisms respond to genetic change.
The genetic landscape faced by a living cell is constantly changing. Developmental transitions, environmental
shifts, and pathogenic invasions lend a dynamic character to both the genome and its activity pattern. We
study a variety of natural mechanisms that are utilized by cells adapting to genetic change. These include
mechanisms activated during normal development and systems for detecting and responding to foreign or
unwanted genetic activity. At the root of these studies are questions of how a cell can distinguish "self" vs.
"nonself" and "wanted" vs. "unwanted" gene expression.
Caenorhabditis elegans provides an excellent model for diverse studies of development, physiology, and
gene expression, with traditional strengths of the model system in genetic and anatomical analysis combining
with a highly-annotated genome and a variety of genetic and epigenetic manipulation techniques. With the
variety of tools, information, and experimental questions, this system remains an attractive choice for varied
studies of gene expression. C. elegans can be quite proficient at silencing foreign nucleic acid, particularly in
the germline; this combined with the other readily manipulated aspects of the system provides an excellent
starting point for the study of responses to foreign information.
Several questions drive our research program
 What features allow certain RNAs to persist and propagate without encoding a replication machinery?
 In what circumstances are non-chromosomal inheritance processes utilized by biological systems?
 How do machineries that propagate non-chromosomal inheritance serve the organism?
 Can we adapt the underlying persistence mechanisms for experimental/therapeutic protocols aimed at
sustained expression or sustained suppression?

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10765427
- **Project number:** 2R35GM130366-06
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ANDREW Z. FIRE
- **Activity code:** R35 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $600,953
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2018-12-06 → 2028-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10765427

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10765427, Cellular Response to Genetic Change (2R35GM130366-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10765427. Licensed CC0.

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