Biology subjects

Kohman, R. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Kohman, R. E..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Expansion Sequencing of RNA Barcoded Neurons in the Mammalian Brain: Progress and Implications for Molecularly Annotated Connectomics

Mapping and molecularly annotating mammalian neural circuits is challenging due to the inability to uniquely label cells while also resolving subcellular features such as synaptic proteins or fine cellular processes. We argue that an ideal technology for connectomics would have the following characteristics: the capacity for robust distance-independent labeling, synaptic resolution, molecular interrogation, and scalable computational methods. The recent development of high-diversity cellular barcoding with RNA has provided a way to overcome the labeling limitations associated with spectral dyes, however performing all-optical circuit mapping has not been demonstrated because no method exists to image barcodes throughout cells at synaptic-resolution. Here we show ExBarSeq, an integrated method combining in situ sequencing of RNA barcodes, immunostaining, and Expansion Microscopy coupled with an end-to-end software pipeline that automatically extracts barcode identities from large imaging datasets without data processing bottlenecks. As a proof of concept, we applied ExBarSeq to thick tissue sections from mice virally infected with MAPseq viral vectors and demonstrated the extraction of 50 barcoded cells in the visual cortex as well as cell morphologies uncovered via immunostaining. The current work demonstrates high resolution multiplexing of exogenous barcodes and endogenous synaptic proteins and outlines a roadmap for molecularly annotated connectomics at a brain-wide scale.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Efficient Human Germ Cell Specification from Stem Cells via Combinatorial Expression of Transcription Factors

The generation of germline cell types from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) represents a key milestone toward in vitro gametogenesis, which has the potential to transform reproductive modeling and medicine. Methods to recapitulate advanced germline cell specification in vitro have relied on extensive, long term culture methods, the most notable of which is a four-month culture protocol employing xenogeneic reconstituted ovaries with mouse embryonic ovarian somatic cells. Recently, transcription factor (TF)-based methods have demonstrated the feasibility of exogenous factor expression to directly differentiate hiPSCs into cell types of interest, including various ovarian cell types. The protocols leveraged in these studies, however, utilize more local methods of factor selection, such as basic differential gene expression analysis, and lower-throughput screening strategies via iterative testing of a small set of TFs. In this work, we integrate our recently-described graph theory pipeline and highly-parallelized screening protocols to globally identify and screen 46 oogenesis-regulating TFs for their role in human germline formation. We identify ZNF281, LHX8, SOHLH1, ZGLP1, and ANHX whose combinatorial overexpression drives DDX4+ induced oogonia-like cell (iOLC) formation from hiPSCs. In contrast to previous methods, our protocol employs a simple four-day, feeder-free monolayer culture condition. We additionally demonstrate a method of post-isolation, feeder-free expansion of DDX4+ iOLCs that shows retained cell identity in vitro. We additionally identify DLX5, HHEX, and FIGLA whose individual overexpression enhances hPGCLC formation from hiPSCs. We characterize these TF-based iOLCs and hPGCLCs via gene and protein expression analyses and demonstrate their broad similarity to in vivo and in vitro-derived oogonia and primordial germ cells. Together, these results identify new regulatory factors that enhance in vitro human germ cell specification and further establish unique computational and experimental tools for human in vitro oogenesis research.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Directed Differentiation of Human iPSCs to Functional Ovarian Granulosa-Like Cells via Transcription Factor Overexpression

An in vitro model of human ovarian follicles would greatly benefit the study of female reproduction. Ovarian development requires the combination of germ cells and their supporting somatic cells, known as granulosa cells. Whereas efficient protocols exist for generating human primordial germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs) from human iPSCs, a method of generating granulosa cells has been elusive. Here we report that simultaneous overexpression of two transcription factors (TFs) can direct the differentiation of human iPSCs to granulosa-like cells. We elucidate the regulatory effects of several granulosa-related TFs, and establish that overexpression of NR5A1 and either RUNX1 or RUNX2 is necessary and sufficient to generate granulosa-like cells. Our granulosa-like cells form ovary-like organoids (ovaroids) when aggregated with hPGCLCs, and recapitulate key ovarian phenotypes including support of germ cell maturation, follicle formation, and steroidogenesis. This model system will provide unique opportunities for studying human ovarian biology, and may enable the development of therapies for female reproductive health.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Fluorescent in situ sequencing of DNA barcoded antibodies

Biological tissues contain thousands of different proteins yet conventional antibody staining can only assay a few at a time because of the limited number of spectrally distinct fluorescent labels. The capacity to map the location of hundreds or thousands of proteins within a single sample would allow for an unprecedented investigation of the spatial proteome, and give insight into the development and function of diseased and healthy tissues. In order to achieve this goal, we propose a new technology that leverages established methodologies for in situ imaging of nucleic acids to achieve near limitless multiplexing. The exponential scaling power of DNA technologies ties multiplexing to the number of DNA nucleotides sequenced rather than the number of spectrally distinct labels. Here we demonstrate that barcode sequencing can be applied to in situ proteomics by sequencing DNA conjugated antibodies bound to biological samples. In addition, we show a signal amplification method which is compatible with barcoded antibodies.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Photon-directed Multiplexed Enzymatic DNA Synthesis for Molecular Digital Data Storage

New storage technologies are needed to keep up with the global demands of data generation. DNA is an ideal storage medium due to its stability, information density and ease of readout with advanced sequencing techniques. However, progress in writing DNA is stifled by the continued reliance on chemical synthesis methods. The enzymatic synthesis of DNA is a promising alternative, but thus far has not been well demonstrated in a highly parallelized manner. Here, we report a novel multiplexed enzymatic DNA synthesis method using maskless photolithography. Rapid uncaging of Co2+ ions by patterned UV light activates Terminal deoxynucleotidyl Transferase (TdT) for spatially-selective synthesis on an array surface. Spontaneous quenching of reactions by the diffusion of excess caging molecules confines synthesis to light patterns and controls the extension length. We show that our multiplexed synthesis method can be used to store digital data by encoding 12 unique DNA oligonucleotide sequences with music from the 1985 Nintendo video game Super Mario Brothers, which is equivalent to 84 trits or 110 bits of data.

synthetic biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Barcoded oligonucleotides ligated on RNA amplified for multiplex and parallel in-situ analyses

We present Barcoded Oligonucleotides Ligated On RNA Amplified for Multiplexed and parallel In-Situ analysis (BOLORAMIS), a reverse-transcription (RT)-free method for spatially-resolved, targeted, in-situ RNA identification of single or multiple targets. For this proof of concept, we have profiled 154 distinct coding and small non-coding transcripts ranging in sizes 18 nucleotides in length and upwards, from over 200, 000 individual human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and demonstrated compatibility with multiplexed detection, enabled by fluorescent in-situ sequencing. We use BOLORAMIS data to identify differences in spatial localization and cell-to-cell expression heterogeneity. Our results demonstrate BOLORAMIS to be a generalizable toolset for targeted, in-situ detection of coding and small non-coding RNA for single or multiplexed applications.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Multiplexed imaging using same species primary antibodies with signal amplification

Immunofluorescence (IF) imaging using antibodies to visualize specific biomolecules is a widely used technique in both biological and clinical laboratories. Standard IF imaging methods using primary antibodies followed by secondary antibodies have low multiplexing capability due to limited availability of primary antibodies raised in different animal species. Here, we used a DNA-based signal amplification method, Hybridization Chain Reaction (HCR), to replace secondary antibodies to achieve multiplexed imaging using primary antibodies of the same species with superior signal intensity. To enable imaging with DNA-conjugated antibodies, we developed a new antibody staining protocol to minimize nonspecific binding of antibodies caused by conjugated DNA oligonucleotides. We also expanded the HCR hairpin pool from previously published 5 to 13 for highly multiplexed in situ imaging. We finally demonstrated multiplexed in situ protein imaging using the technique in both cultured cells and mouse retina sections.

cell biology↗