Bin Gu, PhD Research Fellow Developmental and Stem Cell Biology Program The Hospital for Sick Children

Bin Gu received his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the College of Life Sciences at Zhejiang University in China in 2013. There he discovered the expression and function of the Autoimmune Regulator(Aire) gene in embryonic stem(ES) cells. In 2013, he began his postdoctoral training in Dr. Janet Rossant’s Lab in SickKids Hospital. He first continued to study the function of Aire in early mouse embryos and revealed a novel function of Aire in mitotic spindle assembly in ES cells and early embryos, and provided a plausible explanation for the fertility defect in AIRE mutant APECED patients and Aire knockout mice. Bin has developed 2C-HRCRISPR, a transformative technology for complex genome editing in mice that opened up two new avenues in biomedical research: 1: studying mammalian development with high spatial-temporal resolution through live imaging of knock-in reporter mice. 2: modeling human genetic disease using mouse models carrying complex genetic modifications such as humanized alleles and engineered chromatin abnormality. This has been recognized as a major advancement in transgenic technology, and Bin was awarded the 6th International Society of Transgenic Technology(ISTT) Young Investigator Award from ISTT, and the 31st Annual Andrew Sass-Kortsak Award from SickKids Hospital.