"To date, we have successfully generated a human hepatocyte reporter cell line that ties glucocorticoid receptor transcriptional activity with apoptosis and cell death. We have used this reporter to perform a whole-genome scale CRISPR-cas9 screen to identify positive regulators of glucocorticoid receptor transcriptional activity. Briefly, this involved infecting the reporter cells with a pooled lentiviral knockout library of guide RNA molecules (targeting 18,000 genes, 4 guides/gene), and harvesting the cells that escaped glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis. These ""glucocorticoid resistant"" cells will likely contain mutations in genes essential for glucocorticoid action in hepatocytes. These genes were subsequently identified using a combination of next-generation sequencing and powerful bioinformatic pipelines. Using this approach, we have successfully identified 6+ genes not previously associated with regulating metabolism by glucocorticoids in the liver. We anticipate publishing our initial findings from this study in late 2021.
For the insulin-mediated GLUT4 trafficking screen: we have successfully generated a human myocyte reporter cell line that allows us to detect plasma membrane-associated GLUT4 following stimulation with insulin. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, work on this project was been delayed. But it is anticipated that this screen will be completed during 2021, and our initial findings are expected to be ready for publication in early 2022."