Author
Bruno Piqani
Other affiliations: Broad Institute
Bio: Bruno Piqani is an academic researcher from University of Massachusetts Boston. The author has contributed to research in topics: Suzuki reaction & Atom economy. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 5 publications receiving 2203 citations. Previous affiliations of Bruno Piqani include Broad Institute.
Papers
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TL;DR: A screen based on high-content imaging was developed to identify genes required for mitotic progression in human cancer cells and applied to an arrayed set of 5,000 unique shRNA-expressing lentiviruses that target 1,028 human genes, providing a widely applicable resource for loss-of-function screens.
1,760 citations
TL;DR: An efficient, robust approach to perform genome-scale pooled shRNA screens for both positive and negative selection and its application to systematically identify cell essential genes in 12 cancer cell lines is reported.
Abstract: More complete knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer will improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment. Efforts such as The Cancer Genome Atlas are systematically characterizing the structural basis of cancer, by identifying the genomic mutations associated with each cancer type. A powerful complementary approach is to systematically characterize the functional basis of cancer, by identifying the genes essential for growth and related phenotypes in different cancer cells. Such information would be particularly valuable for identifying potential drug targets. Here, we report the development of an efficient, robust approach to perform genome-scale pooled shRNA screens for both positive and negative selection and its application to systematically identify cell essential genes in 12 cancer cell lines. By integrating these functional data with comprehensive genetic analyses of primary human tumors, we identified known and putative oncogenes such as EGFR, KRAS, MYC, BCR-ABL, MYB, CRKL, and CDK4 that are essential for cancer cell proliferation and also altered in human cancers. We further used this approach to identify genes involved in the response of cancer cells to tumoricidal agents and found 4 genes required for the response of CML cells to imatinib treatment: PTPN1, NF1, SMARCB1, and SMARCE1, and 5 regulators of the response to FAS activation, FAS, FADD, CASP8, ARID1A and CBX1. Broad application of this highly parallel genetic screening strategy will not only facilitate the rapid identification of genes that drive the malignant state and its response to therapeutics but will also enable the discovery of genes that participate in any biological process.
587 citations
TL;DR: The high efficiency of the diversity-oriented synthesis is achieved by conducting a multicomponent reaction for improved atom economy, under microwave heating for fast reaction, and with fluorous solid-phase extractions (F-SPE) for ease of purification.
Abstract: Dihydropyrimidinones and dihydropyrimidinethiones generated from the Biginelli reactions of perfluorooctanesulfonyl-attached benzaldehydes are used as common intermediates for post-condensation modifications such as cycloaddition, Liebeskind–Srogl reaction and Suzuki coupling to form biaryl-substituted dihydropyrimidinone, dihydropyrimidine, and thiazolopyrimidine compounds. The high efficiency of the diversity-oriented synthesis is achieved by conducting a multicomponent reaction for improved atom economy, under microwave heating for fast reaction, and with fluorous solid-phase extractions (F-SPE) for ease of purification.
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the utility of fluorous sulfonate linkers in the synthesis of biologically interested library scaffolds is summarized in a short review article, where other synthetic techniques such as microwave reactions and multicomponent reactions are combined with the fluorous linker strategy to further increase synthetic efficiency.
Abstract: Aryl perfluorooctanesulfonates (fluorous sulfonate) have been developed as triflates and nonaflates alternatives for Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions to form C-C, C-N, C-S, C-H, and C-CN bonds. They also serve as phase-tags for fluorous solid-phase extraction (F-SPE) to facilitate product purifications. Other synthetic techniques such as microwave reactions and multicomponent reactions are combined with the fluorous linker strategy to further increase synthetic efficiency. The utility of fluorous sulfonate linkers in the synthesis of biologically interested library scaffolds is summarized in this short review article.
5 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the utility of fluorous sulfonate linkers in the synthesis of biologically interested library scaffolds is summarized in a short review article, where other synthetic techniques such as microwave reactions and multicomponent reactions are combined with the fluorous linker strategy to further increase synthetic efficiency.
Abstract: Aryl perfluorooctanesulfonates (fluorous sulfonate) have been developed as triflates and nonaflates alternatives for Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions to form C-C, C-N, C-S, C-H, and C-CN bonds. They also serve as phase-tags for fluorous solid-phase extraction (F-SPE) to facilitate product purifications. Other synthetic techniques such as microwave reactions and multicomponent reactions are combined with the fluorous linker strategy to further increase synthetic efficiency. The utility of fluorous sulfonate linkers in the synthesis of biologically interested library scaffolds is summarized in this short review article.
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TL;DR: This paper identified the small molecule ferrostatin-1 as a potent inhibitor of ferroptosis in cancer cells and glutamate-induced cell death in organotypic rat brain slices, suggesting similarities between these two processes.
7,192 citations
TL;DR: The first free, open-source system designed for flexible, high-throughput cell image analysis, CellProfiler is described, which can address a variety of biological questions quantitatively.
Abstract: Biologists can now prepare and image thousands of samples per day using automation, enabling chemical screens and functional genomics (for example, using RNA interference). Here we describe the first free, open-source system designed for flexible, high-throughput cell image analysis, CellProfiler. CellProfiler can address a variety of biological questions quantitatively, including standard assays (for example, cell count, size, per-cell protein levels) and complex morphological assays (for example, cell/organelle shape or subcellular patterns of DNA or protein staining).
4,578 citations
TL;DR: This work shows that lentiviral delivery of a genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 knockout (GeCKO) library targeting 18,080 genes with 64,751 unique guide sequences enables both negative and positive selection screening in human cells, and observes a high level of consistency between independent guide RNAs targeting the same gene and a high rate of hit confirmation.
Abstract: The simplicity of programming the CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)–associated nuclease Cas9 to modify specific genomic loci suggests a new way to interrogate gene function on a genome-wide scale. We show that lentiviral delivery of a genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 knockout (GeCKO) library targeting 18,080 genes with 64,751 unique guide sequences enables both negative and positive selection screening in human cells. First, we used the GeCKO library to identify genes essential for cell viability in cancer and pluripotent stem cells. Next, in a melanoma model, we screened for genes whose loss is involved in resistance to vemurafenib, a therapeutic RAF inhibitor. Our highest-ranking candidates include previously validated genes NF1 and MED12 , as well as novel hits NF2 , CUL3 , TADA2B , and TADA1. We observe a high level of consistency between independent guide RNAs targeting the same gene and a high rate of hit confirmation, demonstrating the promise of genome-scale screening with Cas9.
4,147 citations
TL;DR: Monocle is described, an unsupervised algorithm that increases the temporal resolution of transcriptome dynamics using single-cell RNA-Seq data collected at multiple time points that revealed switch-like changes in expression of key regulatory factors, sequential waves of gene regulation, and expression of regulators that were not known to act in differentiation.
Abstract: Defining the transcriptional dynamics of a temporal process such as cell differentiation is challenging owing to the high variability in gene expression between individual cells. Time-series gene expression analyses of bulk cells have difficulty distinguishing early and late phases of a transcriptional cascade or identifying rare subpopulations of cells, and single-cell proteomic methods rely on a priori knowledge of key distinguishing markers. Here we describe Monocle, an unsupervised algorithm that increases the temporal resolution of transcriptome dynamics using single-cell RNA-Seq data collected at multiple time points. Applied to the differentiation of primary human myoblasts, Monocle revealed switch-like changes in expression of key regulatory factors, sequential waves of gene regulation, and expression of regulators that were not known to act in differentiation. We validated some of these predicted regulators in a loss-of function screen. Monocle can in principle be used to recover single-cell gene expression kinetics from a wide array of cellular processes, including differentiation, proliferation and oncogenic transformation.
4,119 citations
Harvard University1, Broad Institute2, Novartis3, Brigham and Women's Hospital4, Jikei University School of Medicine5, Boston Children's Hospital6, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill7, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center8, Nagoya City University9, Autonomous University of Barcelona10, University Health Network11, Cornell University12, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center13, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center14, University of Pennsylvania15, University of Michigan16, University of Washington Medical Center17, Howard Hughes Medical Institute18, Massachusetts Institute of Technology19
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that cancer cells containing amplifications surrounding the MCL1 and BCL2L1 anti-apoptotic genes depend on the expression of these genes for survival, and a large majority of SCNAs identified in individual cancer types are present in several cancer types.
Abstract: A powerful way to discover key genes with causal roles in oncogenesis is to identify genomic regions that undergo frequent alteration in human cancers. Here we present high-resolution analyses of somatic copy-number alterations (SCNAs) from 3,131 cancer specimens, belonging largely to 26 histological types. We identify 158 regions of focal SCNA that are altered at significant frequency across several cancer types, of which 122 cannot be explained by the presence of a known cancer target gene located within these regions. Several gene families are enriched among these regions of focal SCNA, including the BCL2 family of apoptosis regulators and the NF-kappaBeta pathway. We show that cancer cells containing amplifications surrounding the MCL1 and BCL2L1 anti-apoptotic genes depend on the expression of these genes for survival. Finally, we demonstrate that a large majority of SCNAs identified in individual cancer types are present in several cancer types.
3,375 citations