Dr Francesco Aulicino is a senior post-doctoral research associate at University of Bristol (UK), in the group of Prof. Imre Berger. Francesco is a molecular and cellular biologist by training (B.Sc., M.Sc., University of Pisa, Italy) and holds a Ph.D. in Biomedicine (UPF, Barcelona, Spain). During his Ph.D., he investigated the role of Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway in somatic cell reprogramming and pluripotency in the group of Prof. Maria Pia Cosma (CRG Barcelona, Spain). He progressively fell in love with synthetic biology and CRISPR technologies. Complex gene editing approaches however, required larger DNA cargo delivery: a feature incompatible with most viral delivery systems. For this reason, he joined Prof. Imre Berger’s group at the University of Bristol to contribute to the development of high-capacity baculoviral vectors for all-in-one CRISPR delivery to mammalian cells. Having met his primary goal, his current research interests include the development of new DNA assembly techniques and design of synthetic baculovirus to create next-generation viral vectors compatible with efficient in vivo genome engineering.

Talks

• Overcoming CRISPR delivery challenges using high capacity baculovirus vectors in human cells – Virtual