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News About our lab

Recent News


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December 2020: Genetic Engineering Stem Cells into Mini-Livers
"Gene Regulatory Network Analysis and Engineering Directs Development and Vascularization of Multilineage Human Liver Organoids," a collaboration of the Ebrahimkhani and Kiani labs, is published in Cell Systems. 
UPMC, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and the Italian Corriere Della Serra published news reports on the paper.


September 2020: We Published in Nature Cell Biology!
"Synthetic immunomodulation with a CRISPR super-repressor in vivo" is published in Nature Cell Biology. 
In a collaborative work between the Kiani Lab and the Ebrahimkhani Lab, we introduce an enhanced CRISPR-based transcriptional repressor to reprogram immune homeostasis in vivo. 
Read Pitt Wire's story for Samira's and Farzaneh's thoughts as well.

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The Tomorrow Life initiative has just launched.
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Dr. Kiani is directing this initiative with aim of bridging society and scientific community through creative filmmaking.

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AAAS reported on the The Human Game film and Tomorrow Life in June 2020.
Tomorrow Life contains vetted “stacks” of one-minute film clips that people can use and recombine to highlight parts of the story they find most relevant, then share on social media. Teams of filmmakers, scientists and members of the public are invited to contribute short films.

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Photo credit: The Tomorrow Life Team.

We are hiring!

Are you interested to work in a highly interdisciplinary environment doing research on the cutting edge technologies such as CRISPR and stem cell derived organoids, while interacting with many scientists from diverse disciplines including biology, engineering, arts and ethics? The laboratory of Dr. Samira Kiani at University of Pittsburgh has opening for Postdocs and graduate students to join the group and lead studies in the intersection of synthetic biology, genetic engineering and epigenetic therapies. The positions are available immediately. Interested candidates should contact Dr. Samira Kiani (samira.kiani@pitt.edu) with their CV and prior experiences included.

Samira was recognized as
an awardee of Pitt's
​Pain Research Challenge 2020! 
She and Dr Mo Ebrahimkhani were selected in May 2020 for their CRISPR-epigenetic therapeutics for pain management.

Code of the Wild was at 3rd Annual Arizona Biosecurity workshop on Dec 13th-14th 2018!
Lots of great talks and fascinating interactions with many experts across fields! 

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Samira organized the 2nd CRISPR Technologies conference with Sam Sternberg on Dec 10th-12th 2018 in San Diego! 
Thank you AIChe and all the speakers and attendees!

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​October 2018: We are excited to be among one of the few groups that have been awarded UO1 from NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing Common Funds.  Special thanks to our collaborators Dr. Mo Ebrahimkhani, Dr. Linda Griffith (MIT), Dr. Jin Park (ASU) and CN Bio Innovations (Oxford, UK).
https://ncats.nih.gov/news/releases/2018/somatic-cells

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September 2018: "Code of the Wild"receives funding support from Arizona Community Foundation and ASU Fluton Schools of Engineering. Thank you for all the supports 


August 2018: Our work is featured in ASU news:
https://fullcircle.asu.edu/research/gene-editing-advance-may-hold-key-to-groundbreaking-medical-progress/


August 2018:
​David's paper on fluorescent gRNAs and their role on RNA Pol II based circuit engineering is now published in ACS Syn bio
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssynbio.8b00153

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July 2018:
​Our Manuscript is now online in Nature Methods!

Thanks to collaborators Dr. Alex Chavez, Dr. Nan Cher Yeo, Dr. Mo Ebrahimkhani, Professor George Church and all the other team members!
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-018-0048-5

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July 2018: Our Manuscript addressing Cas9 immunogenicity is now available in Biorxiv.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/07/02/360198


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June 2018: Kiani and Ebrahimkhani labs are awarded NIH RO1 from NIBIB to develop safer and controllable CRISPR-based gene therapies!!!


April 2018: Michael was awarded Fulbright Fellowship to spend a year in Spain! 
Great work Michael :)

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Jennifer Successfully defended her thesis: Good luck Jennifer :)
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04/19/2018
​Code of the Wild is featured in the CRISPR Journal 

My CRISPR Story
​A Unique Partnership: Code of the Wild
www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/crispr.2018.29009.csh
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Please visit "code of the Wild" website to share your stories and contribute to these efforts:

https://codeofthewild.org


Code of the Wild

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The genetic code of nature is wild and untouched. It is a new wilderness that we are exploring and colonizing for the first time. Genomic modifications will certainly change us and the natural world. Samira Kiani is partnering with Rhumbline media and director Cody Sheehy to explore diverse aspects of genome engineering including social, ethical and medical risks and benefits in future societies.
Follow us at twitter @Codeof the Wild and Facebook: www.facebook.com/CODEoftheWILD/


09/17/2017
We are on the cover of ACS Synthetic Biology.
http://pubs.acs.org/toc/asbcd6/current

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06/07/2017 : Check out our new review paper that just came out in ACS Synthetic Biology:
​http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssynbio.7b00011?journalCode=asbcd6pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssynbio.7b00011?journalCode=asbcd6

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04/29/17: Read Samira's contribution to Cell Systems "voices" on What Is the Role of Circuit Design in the Advancement of Synthetic Biology? 

​http://www.cell.com/cell-systems/fulltext/S2405-4712(17)30135-7?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2405471217301357%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

DARPA Young Faculty Award

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​October 2016: Dr. Kiani received DARPA YFA Award to develop Safer and Controllable Gene therapies to restore hearing loss.


Environmental Health & Safety Records Video at Kiani Lab!

September 27th, 2016: Environmental Health & Safety filmed lab members Farzaneh Moghadam, David Menn, and Professor Kiani, M.D., as part of an instructional safety video series.  Next stop, Hollywood!
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Environmental Health & Safety Records Video at Kiani Lab!

September 22nd, 2016: Kiani Lab featured for "game-changing leaps in tech capabilities" for work related to the lab's DARPA  project: trying to develop a safer, more controllable and effective way to restore hearing loss caused by traumatic injury.
Read the Article Here!
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SKMO Lab Back to School Pizza Party!

​August 16th, 2016: The Kiani and Ebrahimkhani labs enjoyed pizza and soda as the ASU Fall semester courses begin! Welcome back to school!!
More Photos From The Event
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Sharanya Presents at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory!

August 9th, 2016: Sharanya Kalasekar, PhD, presented at Cold Spring Harbor Labratory's Synthetic Biology Course!
More Information

SKMO Lab celebrates Farzaneh's Birthday!!

August 5th, 2016: Happy Birthday Farnzaneh!!​​
More Photos From the Event
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