Ben Davies

Overcoming the challenges of genome-editing essential genes

Authors (2)

Lydia Teboul
Ben Davies

STAR Protocols

Published 18 September 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Biological Research Facility

Full details

A titin truncating variant linked to atrial fibrillation increases atrial profibrotic signalling and cholinergic sensitivity

Authors (22)

Max J Cumberland
Albert Dasí
Naeramit Sontayananon
Alan D Marcus
Alex R Qin
Leto Riebel
[...]
Chris Denning
Ben Davies
Blanca Rodriguez
Andrew P Holmes
Katja Gehmlich

Cardiovascular Research

Published 1 June 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Loop extrusion by cohesin plays a role in enhancer-activated gene expression early in differentiation

Authors (12)

Rosa J Stolper
Felice H Tsang
Emily Georgiades
Lars LP Hanssen
Edward AJ Tunnacliffe
Damien J Downes
[...]
Jim R Hughes
Robert A Beagrie
Ben Davies
Mira T Kassouf
Douglas R Higgs

Nature Communications

Published 26 May 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

A genome-wide atlas of meiotic recombination intermediates reveals distinct modes of DNA repair that direct crossovers away from transcriptionally marked genes

Preprint

Authors (9)

Callum Henfrey
Emily Print
Gang Zhang
Robert Hinch
Isabella Maudlin
Daniela Moralli
Ben Davies
Peter Donnelly
Anjali Gupta Hinch

bioRxiv

Published 28 March 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

C9orf72 poly(glycine-alanine) knock-in mice exhibit mild rotarod and proteomic changes consistent with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia

Authors (20)

Carmelo Milioto
Mireia Carcolé
Matteo Zanovello
Mhoriam Ahmed
Raja S Nirujogi
Daniel Biggs
[...]
Dario R Alessi
Ben Davies
Linda Greensmith
Elizabeth MC Fisher
Adrian M Isaacs

Brain Communications

Published 17 March 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

A functional overlap between actively transcribed genes and chromatin insulator elements

Authors (17)

Lucy J Cornell
Caroline L Harrold
Susannah Holliman
Felice Tsang
Matthew E Gosden
Lars LP Hanssen
[...]
Ben Davies
Jacqueline A Sloane-Stanley
Jim R Hughes
Douglas R Higgs
Mira T Kassouf

EMBO Journal

Published 15 April 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

The structured RNA-binding domains and condensation capacity of FUS shape its RNA-binding landscape and function

Preprint

Authors (9)

Daniel Jutzi
Juan Alcalde
Saskia Hutten
Fatmanur Tiryaki
Ben Davies
Helene Plun-Favreau
Christopher R Sibley
Dorothee Dormann
Marc-David Ruepp

bioRxiv

Published 12 January 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Humanized Kcnv2 E151X mouse captures hallmarks of KCNV2-associated retinal dystrophy

Preprint

Authors (4)

Nermina Xhaferri
Sumit Biswas
Ben Davies
Moritz Lindner

bioRxiv

Published 5 January 2026

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

The ERCC6L2-MRI-KU complex coordinates NHEJ at staggered DNA double-strand breaks

Preprint

Authors (9)

Pia I Reichl
Ceylan Sonmez
Yueru Sun
Ashleigh King
Jean S Metson
Ben Davies
Adam C Wilkinson
Francisca Lottersberger
J Ross Chapman

bioRxiv

Published 28 November 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Evidence for enhancer activity in intron 1 of TNFRSF1A using CRISPR/Cas9 in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived macrophages

Authors (11)

Julie A Osgood
Andrew C Brown
Katie L Burnham
Olga Mielczarek
Gabriele Migliorini
Chwen Tay
Ping Zhang
Madeleine H Palmer
Ben Davies
Sally A Cowley
Julian C Knight

Scientific Reports

Published 7 October 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

An improved vitrification protocol for the fast and safe storage of mouse oocytes

Authors (8)

Tina Hodgson
Hollie Lane
Helen Horsler
Juliette Horwood
Laura Denti
Fabio Delaqua
Katharine Crawley
Ben Davies

Biology of Reproduction

Published 1 December 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Early atrial remodeling drives arrhythmia in Fabry disease

Authors (21)

Ashwin Roy
Christopher O'Shea
Albert Dasí
Leena Patel
Max J Cumberland
Daniel Nieves
[...]
Davor Pavlovic
Jonathan N Townend
Tarekegn Geberhiwot
Katja Gehmlich
Richard P Steeds

Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology

Published 1 July 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Generation of C9orf72h370 mice, an intron 1 humanised C9orf72 repeat-expansion knock-in model

Preprint

Authors (19)

Remya R Nair
Mireia Carcolé
David Thompson
Charlotte Tibbit
Ross McLeod
Alexander Cammack
[...]
Michael Flower
Ben Davies
Adrian M Isaacs
Elizabeth MC Fisher
Thomas J Cunningham

bioRxiv

Published 6 February 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Optimizing approaches for targeted integration of transgenic cassettes by integrase mediated cassette exchange in mouse and human stem cells

Authors (12)

Phalguni Rath
Philipp Kramer
Daniel Biggs
Chris Preece
Nicole Hortin
Rebeca Diaz
[...]
Xiang Li
Arnaud Bolard
Nicola Beer
Mark McCarthy
Ben Davies

Stem Cells

Published 1 January 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Shieldin and CST co-orchestrate DNA polymerase-dependent tailed-end joining reactions independently of 53BP1-governed repair pathway choice

Authors (12)

Ashleigh King
Pia I Reichl
Jean S Metson
Robert Parker
Daniella Munro
Catarina Oliveira
[...]
Jordan R Becker
Daniel Biggs
Chris Preece
Ben Davies
J Ross Chapman

Nature Structural and Molecular Biology

Published 1 January 2025

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Characterisation of infantile cardiomyopathy in Alström syndrome using ALMS1 knockout induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte model

Authors (14)

Leena Patel
Ashwin Roy
Jonathan Barlow
Christopher O'Shea
Daniel Nieves
Amar J Azad
[...]
Davor Pavlovic
Ashish Chikermane
Tarek Geberhiwot
Richard P Steeds
Katja Gehmlich

Molecular Genetics and Metabolism

Published 1 September 2024

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Mutagenesis on a complex mouse genetic background by site-specific nucleases

Authors (11)

Ben Davies
Lucy Trelfa
Victoria S Rashbrook
Edward Drydale
Rachel Martin
Boyan Bai
Jedrzej Golebka
Daniel Stephen Biggs
Keith M Channon
Shoumo Bhattacharya
Gillian Douglas

Transgenic Research

Published 1 October 2024

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Naturally sterile Mus spretus hybrids are suitable for the generation of pseudopregnant embryo transfer recipients

Authors (8)

Chris Preece
Daniel Biggs
Edward Grencis
Maj Simonsen Jackson
Sue Allen
Martin Fray
Antony Adamson
Ben Davies

Lab Animal

Published 1 July 2024

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Increasing knockin efficiency in mouse zygotes by transient hypothermia

Authors (5)

Amine Bouchareb
Daniel Biggs
Samy Alghadban
Christopher Preece
Ben Davies

The CRISPR Journal

Published 1 April 2024

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

PolyGR and polyPR knock-in mice reveal a conserved neuroprotective extracellular matrix signature in C9orf72 ALS/FTD neurons

Authors (40)

Carmelo Milioto
Mireia Carcolé
Ashling Giblin
Rachel Coneys
Olivia Attrebi
Mhoriam Ahmed
[...]
Ben Davies
Marc Aurel Busche
Linda Greensmith
Elizabeth MC Fisher
Adrian M Isaacs

Nature Neuroscience

Published 1 April 2024

Crick labs/ facilities

Full details

Research partnerships

Technical training

We Go Way Back

About us

The Crick magazine

Ben Davies

Head of GeMS

Biological Research Facility: Genetic Modification Service

Year published

Research topics

Crick Pre-Crick

Publication type

Journal

Overcoming the challenges of genome-editing essential genes

A titin truncating variant linked to atrial fibrillation increases atrial profibrotic signalling and cholinergic sensitivity

Loop extrusion by cohesin plays a role in enhancer-activated gene expression early in differentiation

A genome-wide atlas of meiotic recombination intermediates reveals distinct modes of DNA repair that direct crossovers away from transcriptionally marked genes

C9orf72 poly(glycine-alanine) knock-in mice exhibit mild rotarod and proteomic changes consistent with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/frontotemporal dementia

A functional overlap between actively transcribed genes and chromatin insulator elements

The structured RNA-binding domains and condensation capacity of FUS shape its RNA-binding landscape and function

Humanized Kcnv2 E151X mouse captures hallmarks of KCNV2-associated retinal dystrophy

The ERCC6L2-MRI-KU complex coordinates NHEJ at staggered DNA double-strand breaks

Evidence for enhancer activity in intron 1 of TNFRSF1A using CRISPR/Cas9 in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived macrophages

An improved vitrification protocol for the fast and safe storage of mouse oocytes

Early atrial remodeling drives arrhythmia in Fabry disease

Generation of C9orf72h370 mice, an intron 1 humanised C9orf72 repeat-expansion knock-in model

Optimizing approaches for targeted integration of transgenic cassettes by integrase mediated cassette exchange in mouse and human stem cells

Shieldin and CST co-orchestrate DNA polymerase-dependent tailed-end joining reactions independently of 53BP1-governed repair pathway choice

Characterisation of infantile cardiomyopathy in Alström syndrome using ALMS1 knockout induced pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte model

Mutagenesis on a complex mouse genetic background by site-specific nucleases

Naturally sterile Mus spretus hybrids are suitable for the generation of pseudopregnant embryo transfer recipients

Increasing knockin efficiency in mouse zygotes by transient hypothermia

PolyGR and polyPR knock-in mice reveal a conserved neuroprotective extracellular matrix signature in C9orf72 ALS/FTD neurons

The Francis Crick Institute is a unique partnership between