Michael B. Aregger, Ph.D.

A major goal of biomedical research is to reveal genetic dependencies and cellular processes cancer cells rely on in order to exploit them therapeutically. The development of CRISPR-based genome editing technologies have opened the door for efficient perturbation of mammalian genomes and, as such, provide powerful tools for exploring genotype to phenotype relationships. Importantly, the combination of CRISPR technology with functional genomics approaches can be harnessed to systematically identify genetic dependencies and cancer vulnerabilities across diverse cell lines and growth conditions.

Michael Aregger has pioneered the development and application of CRISPR-Cas tools for individual and combinatorial gene targeting in human cells. In his research program, Dr. Aregger uses these transformative functional genomics approaches to uncover genetic dependencies across various environmental conditions and genetic backgrounds. In particular, a major focus of Dr. Aregger’s research is to identify genetic interactions in order to gain insight into the genetic wiring and buffering mechanisms in human cells. By applying this strategy, his research revealed the functional roles of previously uncharacterized genes and uncovered extensive genetic crosstalk and buffering mechanisms within cellular metabolism. Overall, Dr. Aregger’s work aims to expand our understanding of how cancer cells dynamically regulate gene expression and cellular metabolism in response to changing environmental conditions, and to use this knowledge in order to identify genetic dependencies that may present novel targets for combinatorial cancer therapeutic approaches.