Prof. Jeff Essner and Ying Wang, a postdoctoral researcher in his lab, are among 16 co-authors who published their results in Nature recently of their research studies with TALENS technology. The paper, titled In vivo genome editing using high-efficiency TALEN systems, describes the team’s effort to make TALENs technology more efficient and to create precise gene-editing techniques.

The TALENs technology has roots at Iowa State. Adam Bogdanove, a former ISU professor of plant pathology and microbiology, laid much of the groundwork for the techniques utilized for the paper along with Dan Voytas, also a former ISU professor; Bing Yang, an assistant professor of genetics, development and cell biology; and Martin Spalding, a professor of genetics, development and cell biology and associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.