Seth Shipman, PhD

Seth Shipman and his team develop innovative strategies to manipulate cells for discovery and therapeutic purposes. As a general principle, they build new technologies to intervene in human disease using molecular parts sourced from bacteria.

For instance, Shipman’s team developed a way to record the order in which genes turn on in a living cell by co-opting two different bacterial immune systems, the retron system and the CRISPR system. His team plans to use that technology to understand how the order of gene expression during development drives the formation of different cells types and tissues.

They are also working to improve the precision of genome editing technologies that will be used to correct disease-causing mutations, by using bacterial retroelements alongside CRISPR-Cas9.

Disease Areas

Cancer
Mitochondrial Disorders
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neuropsychiatric Diseases

Areas of Expertise

CRISPR and Genome Editing
Stem Cells and iPS Cells
Aging
Molecular Engineering
Neuroscience
Technology Development

Lab Focus

Developing molecular technology to understand gene expression over time in living cells, and to overcome technical roadblocks in our understanding of development and disease.
Leveraging the potential of synthetic DNA sequences to store information, rewrite the genome, and reshape the transcriptome of living cells.
Developing precise genome editing technologies for molecular medicine and fundamental discovery of disease mechanisms.

Research Impact

The philosophy driving Shipman’s research is to identify a technical limitation in a given field and tackle it with innovative approaches borrowing from diverse fields, such as bioengineering, genetics, systems and synthetic biology, neuroscience, microbiology, and chemical biology. With this mindset, Shipman addresses the fundamental question of the relative timing of gene expression with a technology that logs a record of sequential events in the DNA of living cells. The lab also harnesses molecular components from bacterial immune systems to make precise modifications to the human genome.

About Seth

Professional Titles

Associate Investigator, Gladstone Institutes
Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UC San Francisco

Bio

Seth Shipman is an associate investigator at Gladstone Institutes. He is also an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UC San Francisco, as well as a CZ Biohub Investigator.

Shipman holds a BA in Neuroscience from Wesleyan University and a PhD in Neuroscience from UC San Francisco, where he worked with Roger Nicoll to understand the molecular events that drive formation of synapses in the brain. His graduate work uncovered how a family of adhesion molecules called neuroligins can influence both synaptogenesis and plasticity. He conducted postdoctoral research in genetics, synthetic biology and stem cell biology at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University with George Church and Jeffrey Macklis, where he developed an approach to store information into the genomic DNA of living cells. This work was featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and elsewhere and was named as one of Discover Magazine’s top 25 stories of the year.

Q:

Why Gladstone?

“I came to Gladstone to tackle the biggest questions about human disease, but with the freedom to use innovative approaches and follow the science wherever it takes me.”