While mapping mutations in a single gene, researchers have uncovered a previously hidden neurodevelopmental condition. Clinical collaborators have already diagnosed 38 individuals with this newfound condition, known as recessive ReNu syndrome. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-04...

Mapping mutations at scale in a single gene reveals new neurodevelopmental condition

Geneticists have uncovered a previously hidden neurodevelopmental condition, showing how variations in a single gene can give rise to distinct disorders and deepening understanding of their biological...

crick.ac.uk

Super excited that our two companion papers on saturation genome editing (SGE) of RNU4-2 and discovery of a novel recessive neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) were published yesterday 🥳 SGE experiment: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Recessive NDD characterisation: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵

Ultra-low-field brain MRI morphometry: T-RT reliability and correspondence to high-field MRI | doi.org/10.1162/IMAG... | w/ !! FREE DATA !! T1w & T2w scans of 23 healthy participants from 3T GE Premier & 2x 64mT Hyperfine Swoop in many resolutions, i.e. 390 scans! openneuro.org/datasets/ds0... [1/n]

This was a great collaboration with @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social and @chloeterwagne.bsky.social

We're recruiting early career Group Leaders this autumn! I cannot think of a better place to build a lab. Come join us! 👇

The Francis Crick Institute@crick.ac.uk · 10mo ago

We're now recruiting early career group leaders at the Crick to lead ambitious research programmes and explore bold scientific questions. Hear our Director, Edith Heard, explain why the Crick is a unique place for curiosity-driven research. Apply now ➡️ www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

Following this, @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social and @gregfindlay.bsky.social led a beautiful saturation genome editing study to help clarify the impact of mutations across the full length of #RNU4-2. Here’s the study on @medrxivpreprint.bsky.social: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1....

Saturation genome editing of RNU4-2 reveals distinct dominant and recessive neurodevelopmental disorders

Recently, de novo variants in an 18 nucleotide region in the centre of RNU4-2 were shown to cause ReNU syndrome, a syndromic neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) that is predicted to affect tens of thous...

medrxiv.org

I am absolutely delighted to share our work describing a new *recessive* condition caused by variants in #RNU4-2. Yes, that #RNU4-2! tinyurl.com/3j9r56s8 @rociorius.bsky.social @yuyangchen.bsky.social @gregfindlay.bsky.social @dgmacarthur.bsky.social @cassimons.bsky.social @nickywhiffin.bsky.social

Biallelic variants in the non-coding RNA gene RNU4-2 cause a recessive neurodevelopmental syndrome with distinct white matter changes

Genetic variants in RNU4-2, which encodes U4, a key non-coding small nuclear RNA (snRNA) component of the major spliceosome, were recently shown to cause a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) ...

medrxiv.org

Thrilled to re-share our tweetorial on Bluesky: now out in @cp-cell.bsky.social (🔗 tinyurl.com/3a55tsky) - we present a framework to accelerate variant classification, diagnosis & treatment of inborn errors of immunity. A dream MD/PhD project, which has already led to the treatment of a patient.

Check out @ckajba.bsky.social and Michael Herger's concise description of their recent work. Thanks to Nature Reviews Genetics for featuring this. rdcu.be/eraxZ

Determining variant effects with pooled prime editing

Nature Reviews Genetics - In this Tools of the Trade article, Christina Kajba and Michael Herger describe their screening platform, based on pooled prime editing, for large-scale functional...

rdcu.be

We're thrilled to introduce PromoterAI — a tool for accurately identifying promoter variants that impact gene expression. 🧵 (1/)

Many thanks to Ke Wu and Francisco Sánchez-Rivera (@fsrmit.bsky.social) for nicely summarising our recent work in Cell Genomics. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

It’s prime time for multiplexed prime editing

Prime editing screens allow precise and scalable studies of genetic variants in their native genomic context but are limited by variable editing effic…

sciencedirect.com

We're quite excited about this story as it showcases the power of SGE to dissect non-coding genes and to uncover new disease associations and diagnoses. This has, indeed, been an excellent collaboration...

Nicky Whiffin@nickywhiffin.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨I could not be more excited to share our new preprint on saturation genome editing of the small nuclear RNA (snRNA) RNU4-2: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... A super fun collaboration with incredible duo @gregfindlay.bsky.social @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk 🧬🖥️🩺 🧵1/12

Hats off to @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social for overcoming some major hurdles to pull this off. And many, many thanks to @nickywhiffin.bsky.social and co for taking SGE data to new heights. It's been amazing to see how fast things can move once we know precisely which variants matter.

Close all tabs and read this. Start with the preceding Nature paper. Trust me. This is cooler than liquid helium.

Nicky Whiffin@nickywhiffin.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨I could not be more excited to share our new preprint on saturation genome editing of the small nuclear RNA (snRNA) RNU4-2: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... A super fun collaboration with incredible duo @gregfindlay.bsky.social @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk 🧬🖥️🩺 🧵1/12

So thrilled to see our pre-print online. This was an incredible team effort and I am so proud to have been part of this amazing study, special thanks goes to @nickywhiffin.bsky.social and @gregfindlay.bsky.social for their mentorship. Go check-out Nicky's thread hereunder:

Nicky Whiffin@nickywhiffin.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨I could not be more excited to share our new preprint on saturation genome editing of the small nuclear RNA (snRNA) RNU4-2: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... A super fun collaboration with incredible duo @gregfindlay.bsky.social @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk 🧬🖥️🩺 🧵1/12

In what is becoming a pretty well-oiled routine, Nicky reached out to see if we had Australian hits, and minutes later @cassimons.bsky.social had found a bunch of them. Now over 20 families diagnosed globally, many with unusual white matter changes - a distinct new recessive syndrome.

Not only is this seriously elegant science from @gregfindlay.bsky.social, @nickywhiffin.bsky.social and friends - using saturation editing to define variant impact in RNU4-2 - it also defines *another* new syndrome associated with this fascinating non-coding RNA gene.

Nicky Whiffin@nickywhiffin.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨I could not be more excited to share our new preprint on saturation genome editing of the small nuclear RNA (snRNA) RNU4-2: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1... A super fun collaboration with incredible duo @gregfindlay.bsky.social @joachimdejonghe.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk 🧬🖥️🩺 🧵1/12