2022 ANNUAL REPORT

Ripples of Impact Dr. Ayal Hendel and his partners developed the CRISPECTOR, an innovative software to measure CRISPR genome editing’s off-target activity and harmful translocation events, supported by an ERC grant and published in Nature Communication. Distinct in its statistical accuracy and ability to identify a broad spectrum of genomic aberrations, CRISPECTOR brings us closer to realizing CRISPR’s remarkable promise as a clinical therapeutic technology. Prof. Shulamit Michaeli and IMM’s Prof. Luisa Figueiredo were the first to discover the RNA molecule of a small nucleolus involved in the life processes of the Trypanosoma parasite that causes the deadly African Trypanosomiasis disease known as sleeping sickness. Causing an overexpression of this molecule by RNA manipulation prevents the parasite’s development and, subsequently, the development of the disease in the infected body. This may be a possible mechanism for life-saving RNA-based drug development, and encourages studying the role of similar molecules in other parasites and organisms. Prof. Shulamit Michaeli and Prof. JeanPaul Lellouche are developing a non-intrusive, safe nanoparticlesbased therapeutic ointment expected to impact the lives of nearly 550 million people exposed to internal and external Leishmaniasis disease, known in Israel as Rose of Jericho. Current treatments require hospitalization and have severe side effects. The nanoparticles’ mechanism, entering and killing the parasite by bursting its only lysosome, can be duplicated to help humanity fight other parasitic diseases. 17

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