By Professor Merlin Crossley

Journal articles

Crossley M, 2026, 'Precision targeting of fetal hemoglobin repressors', Blood, 148, pp. 803 - 804, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.2026034687

Bell HW; Feng R; Shah M; Yao Y; Douglas J; Doerfler PA; Mayuranathan T; O’Dea MF; Li Y; Wang YD; Zhang J; Mackay JP; Cheng Y; Quinlan KGR; Weiss MJ; Crossley M, 2025, 'Removal of promoter CpG methylation by epigenome editing reverses HBG silencing', Nature Communications, 16, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-62177-z

Yang L; Shah M; Chavalit T; Spek AM; Lim WF; Zhong L; Nejad Safari V; Haddad M; Vu TH; Mackay JP; Raftery MJ; Wilkins MR; Mathews JM; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2025, 'WDR5 serves in co-activation and influences genome targeting of KLF3', Nucleic Acids Research, 53, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf977

Devaraju N; Prakash H; George A; Ravi N; Thangavel S; Crossley M; Srivastava A; Murugesan MK, 2024, 'Editing Combinations of Transcription Factor Binding Sites to Maximise Fetal Hemoglobin Production', Blood, 144, pp. 2476 - 2476, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2024-210995

Rajendiran V; Devaraju N; Haddad M; Ravi NS; Panigrahi L; Paul J; Gopalakrishnan C; Wyman S; Ariudainambi K; Mahalingam G; Periyasami Y; Prasad K; George A; Sukumaran D; Gopinathan S; Pai AA; Nakamura Y; Balasubramanian P; Ramalingam R; Thangavel S; Velayudhan SR; Corn JE; Mackay JP; Marepally S; Srivastava A; Crossley M; Mohankumar KM, 2024, 'Base editing of key residues in the BCL11A-XL-specific zinc finger domains derepresses fetal globin expression', Molecular Therapy, 32, pp. 663 - 677, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.01.023

Martyn GE; Doerfler PA; Yao Y; Quinlan KGR; Weiss MJ; Crossley M, 2024, 'Hydroxyurea reduces the levels of the fetal globin gene repressors ZBTB7A/LRF and BCL11A in erythroid cells in vitro', Journal of Sickle Cell Disease, 1, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jscdis/yoae008

Simbula M; Manchinu MF; Mingoia M; Pala M; Asunis I; Caria CA; Perseu L; Shah M; Crossley M; Moi P; Ristaldi MS, 2023, 'miR-365-3p mediates BCL11A and SOX6 erythroid-specific coregulation: A new player in HbF activation', Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids, 34, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.omtn.2023.09.002

Huang P; Peslak SA; Ren R; Khandros E; Qin K; Keller CA; Giardine B; Bell HW; Lan X; Sharma M; Horton JR; Abdulmalik O; Chou ST; Shi J; Crossley M; Hardison RC; Cheng X; Blobel GA, 2023, 'Author Correction: HIC2 controls developmental hemoglobin switching by repressing BCL11A transcription (Nature Genetics, (2022), 54, 9, (1417-1426), 10.1038/s41588-022-01152-6)', Nature Genetics, 55, pp. 1608, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-023-01488-7

Mayuranathan T; Newby GA; Feng R; Yao Y; Mayberry KD; Lazzarotto CR; Li Y; Levine RM; Nimmagadda N; Dempsey E; Kang G; Porter SN; Doerfler PA; Zhang J; Jang Y; Chen J; Bell HW; Crossley M; Bhoopalan SV; Sharma A; Tisdale JF; Pruett-Miller SM; Cheng Y; Tsai SQ; Liu DR; Weiss MJ; Yen JS, 2023, 'Potent and uniform fetal hemoglobin induction via base editing', Nature Genetics, 55, pp. 1210 - 1220, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-023-01434-7

Crossley M; Christakopoulos GE; Weiss MJ, 2022, 'Effective therapies for sickle cell disease: are we there yet?', Trends in Genetics, 38, pp. 1284 - 1298, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2022.07.003

Ly LC; Yang Y; Li F; Crossley M; Shi Y; Quinlan KGR, 2022, 'Protocols for protein-DNA binding analysis of a zinc finger transcription factor bound to its cognate promoter', STAR Protocols, 3, pp. 101598, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101598

Huang P; Peslak SA; Ren R; Khandros E; Qin K; Keller CA; Giardine B; Bell HW; Lan X; Sharma M; Horton JR; Abdulmalik O; Chou ST; Shi J; Crossley M; Hardison RC; Cheng X; Blobel GA, 2022, 'HIC2 controls developmental hemoglobin switching by repressing BCL11A transcription', Nature Genetics, 54, pp. 1417 - 1426, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01152-6

Topfer SK; Feng R; Huang P; Ly LC; Martyn GE; Blobel GA; Weiss MJ; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2022, 'Disrupting the adult globin promoter alleviates promoter competition and reactivates fetal globin gene expression', Blood, 139, pp. 2107 - 2118, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood.2021014205

Ravi NS; Wienert B; Wyman SK; Bell HW; George A; Mahalingam G; Vu JT; Prasad K; Bandlamudi BP; Devaraju N; Rajendiran V; Syedbasha N; Pai AA; Nakamura Y; Kurita R; Narayanasamy M; Balasubramanian P; Thangavel S; Marepally S; Velayudhan SR; Srivastava A; Dewitt MA; Crossley M; Corn JE; Mohankumar KM, 2022, 'Identification of novel HPFH-like mutations by CRISPR base editing that elevate the expression of fetal hemoglobin', Elife, 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/ELIFE.65421

Yang Y; Ren R; Ly LC; Horton JR; Li F; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M; Shi Y; Cheng X, 2021, 'Structural basis for human ZBTB7A action at the fetal globin promoter', Cell Reports, 36, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109759

Doerfler PA; Feng R; Li Y; Palmer LE; Porter SN; Bell HW; Crossley M; Pruett-Miller SM; Cheng Y; Weiss MJ, 2021, 'Activation of γ-globin gene expression by GATA1 and NF-Y in hereditary persistence of fetal hemoglobin', Nature Genetics, 53, pp. 1177 - 1186, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00904-0

Lan X; Ren R; Feng R; Ly LC; Lan Y; Zhang Z; Aboreden N; Qin K; Horton JR; Grevet JD; Mayuranathan T; Abdulmalik O; Keller CA; Giardine B; Hardison RC; Crossley M; Weiss MJ; Cheng X; Shi J; Blobel GA, 2021, 'ZNF410 Uniquely Activates the NuRD Component CHD4 to Silence Fetal Hemoglobin Expression', Molecular Cell, 81, pp. 239 - 254.e8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2020.11.006

Knights AJ; Vohralik EJ; Houweling PJ; Stout ES; Norton LJ; Alexopoulos SJ; Yik JJ; Mat Jusoh H; Olzomer EM; Bell-Anderson KS; North KN; Hoehn KL; Crossley M; Quinlan KGR, 2020, 'Eosinophil function in adipose tissue is regulated by Krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3)', Nature Communications, 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16758-9

Yang L; Chen Z; Stout ES; Delerue F; Ittner LM; Wilkins MR; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2020, 'Methylation of a CGATA element inhibits binding and regulation by GATA-1', Nature Communications, 11, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16388-1

Lan X; Ren R; Feng R; Ly LC; Lan Y; Zhang Z; Aboreden N; Qin K; Horton JR; Grevet JD; Mayuranathan T; Abdulmalik O; Keller CA; Giardine B; Hardison RC; Crossley M; Weiss MJ; Cheng X; Shi J; Blobel GA, 2020, 'ZNF410 Uniquely Activates the NuRD Component CHD4 to Silence Fetal Hemoglobin Expression', BLOOD, 136, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2020-137564

Dryzek JS; Nicol D; Niemeyer S; Pemberton S; Curato N; Bächtiger A; Batterham P; Bedsted B; Burall S; Burgess M; Burgio G; Castelfranchi Y; Chneiweiss H; Church G; Crossley M; De Vries J; Farooque M; Hammond M; He B; Mendonça R; Merchant J; Middleton A; Rasko JEJ; Van Hoyweghen I; Vergne A, 2020, 'Global citizen deliberation on genome editing', Science, 369, pp. 1435 - 1437, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/SCIENCE.ABB5931

Knights AJ; Yang L; Shah M; Norton LJ; Green GS; Stout ES; Vohralik EJ; Crossley M; Quinlan KGR, 2020, 'Krüppel-like factor 3 (klf3) suppresses nf-b-driven inflammation in mice', Journal of Biological Chemistry, 295, pp. 608 - 6091, http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.RA120.013114

Shah M; Funnell APW; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2019, 'Hit and Run Transcriptional Repressors Are Difficult to Catch in the Act', BioEssays, 41, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201900041

Martyn GE; Wienert B; Kurita R; Nakamura Y; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2019, 'A natural regulatory mutation in the proximal promoter elevates fetal globin expression by creating a de novo GATA1 site', Blood, 133, pp. 852 - 856, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-07-863951

Doerfler P; Feng R; Porter S; Li Y; Crossley M; Cheng Y; Pruett-Miller S; Weiss M, 2019, 'FUNCTIONALLY DISTINCT UTILIZATION OF CIS-REGULATORY ELEMENTS IN HEREDITARY PERSISTENCE OF FETAL HEMOGLOBIN', EXPERIMENTAL HEMATOLOGY, 76, pp. S64 - S64

Artuz CM; Knights AJ; Funnell APW; Gonda TJ; Ravid K; Pearson RCM; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2018, 'Partial reprogramming of heterologous cells by defined factors to generate megakaryocyte lineage-restricted biomolecules', Biotechnology Reports, 20, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.btre.2018.e00285

Wienert B; Martyn GE; Funnell APW; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2018, 'Wake-up Sleepy Gene: Reactivating Fetal Globin for β-Hemoglobinopathies', Trends in Genetics, 34, pp. 927 - 940, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tig.2018.09.004

Blobel GA; Crossley M, 2018, 'Charting a noncoding gene for g-globin activation', Blood, 132, pp. 1865 - 1867, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2018-09-873620

Knights AJ; Vohralik EJ; Hoehn KL; Crossley M; Quinlan KGR, 2018, 'Defining Eosinophil Function in Adiposity and Weight Loss', Bioessays, 40, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bies.201800098

Martyn GE; Wienert B; Yang L; Shah M; Norton LJ; Burdach J; Kurita R; Nakamura Y; Pearson RCM; Funnell APW; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2018, 'Natural regulatory mutations elevate the fetal globin gene via disruption of BCL11A or ZBTB7A binding', Nature Genetics, 50, pp. 498 - 503, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41588-018-0085-0

Norton LJ; Hallal S; Stout ES; Funnell APW; Pearson RCM; Crossley M; Quinlan KGR, 2017, 'Direct competition between DNA binding factors highlights the role of Krüppel-like Factor 1 in the erythroid/megakaryocyte switch', Scientific Reports, 7, pp. 3137, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-03289-5

Nicol D; Eckstein L; Morrison M; Sherkow JS; Otlowski M; Whitton T; Bubela T; Burdon KP; Chalmers D; Chan S; Charlesworth J; Critchley C; Crossley M; de Lacey S; Dickinson JL; Hewitt AW; Kamens J; Kato K; Kleiderman E; Kodama S; Liddicoat J; Mackey DA; Newson AJ; Nielsen J; Wagner JK; McWhirter RE, 2017, 'Key challenges in bringing CRISPR-mediated somatic cell therapy into the clinic', Genome Medicine, 9, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13073-017-0475-4

Wienert B; Martyn GE; Kurita R; Nakamura Y; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2017, 'KLF1 drives the expression of fetal hemoglobin in British HPFH', Blood, 130, pp. 803 - 807, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2017-02-767400

Ilsley MD; Gillinder KR; Magor GW; Huang S; Bailey TL; Crossley M; Perkins AC, 2017, 'Krüppel-like factors compete for promoters and enhancers to fine-tune transcription', Nucleic Acids Research, 45, pp. 6572 - 6588, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkx441

Martyn GE; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2017, 'The regulation of human globin promoters by CCAAT box elements and the recruitment of NF-Y', Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta Gene Regulatory Mechanisms, 1860, pp. 525 - 536, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbagrm.2016.10.002

Norton LJ; Funnell APW; Burdach J; Wienert B; Kurita R; Nakamura Y; Philipsen S; Pearson RCM; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2017, 'KLF1 directly activates expression of the novel fetal globin repressor ZBTB7A/LRF in erythroid cells', Blood Advances, 1, pp. 685 - 692, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/bloodadvances.2016002303

Knights AJ; Yik JJ; Jusoh HM; Norton LJ; Funnell APW; Pearson RCM; Bell-Anderson KS; Crossley M; Quinlan KGR, 2016, 'Krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3/BKLF) is required for widespread repression of the inflammatory modulator galectin-3 (Lgals3)', Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291, pp. 16048 - 16058, http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M116.715748

Perkins A; Xu X; Higgs DR; Patrinos GP; Arnaud L; Bieker JJ; Philipsen S; Workgroup TKC, 2016, 'Krüppeling erythropoiesis: an unexpected broad spectrum of human red blood cell disorders due to KLF1 variants', Blood, 127, pp. 1856 - 1862, http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2016-01-694331

Berber S; Wood M; Llamosas E; Thaivalappil P; Lee K; Liao BM; Chew YL; Rhodes A; Yucel D; Crossley M; Nicholas HR, 2016, 'Homeodomain-Interacting Protein Kinase (HPK-1) regulates stress responses and ageing in C. elegans', Scientific Reports, 6, pp. 19582, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep19582

Masuda T; Wang X; Maeda M; Canver MC; Sher F; Funnell APW; Fisher C; Suciu M; Martyn GE; Norton LJ; Zhu C; Kurita R; Nakamura Y; Xu J; Higgs DR; Crossley M; Bauer DE; Orkin SH; Kharchenko PV; Maeda T, 2016, 'Gene regulation: Transcription factors LRF and BCL11A independently repress expression of fetal hemoglobin', Science, 351, pp. 285 - 289, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aad3312

Lim WF; Burdach J; Funnell APW; Pearson RCM; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2015, 'Directing an artificial zinc finger protein to new targets by fusion to a non-DNA-binding domain', Nucleic Acids Research, 44, pp. 3118 - 3130, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkv1380

Dewi V; Kwok A; Lee S; Lee MM; Tan YM; Nicholas HR; Isono KI; Wienert B; Mak KS; Knights AJ; Quinlan KGR; Cordwell SJ; Funnell APW; Pearson RCM; Crossley M, 2015, 'Phosphorylation of krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3/BKLF) and C-terminal binding protein 2 (CtBP2) by homeodomaininteracting protein kinase 2 (HIPK2) modulates KLF3 DNA binding and activity', Journal of Biological Chemistry, 290, pp. 8591 - 8605, http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M115.638338

Wienert B; Funnell APW; Norton LJ; Pearson RCM; Wilkinson-White LE; Lester K; Vadolas J; Porteus MH; Matthews JM; Quinlan KGR; Crossley M, 2015, 'Editing the genome to introduce a beneficial naturally occurring mutation associated with increased fetal globin.', Nature communications, 6, pp. 7085, http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8085

Reid A; Yücel D; Wood M; Llamosas E; Kant S; Crossley M; Nicholas H, 2014, 'The transcriptional repressor CTBP-1 functions in the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans to regulate lifespan', Experimental Gerontology, 60, pp. 153 - 165, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2014.09.022

Ballester B; Medina-Rivera A; Schmidt D; Gonzàlez-Porta M; Carlucci M; Chen X; Chessman K; Faure AJ; Funnell APW; Goncalves A; Kutter C; Lukk M; Menon S; McLaren WM; Stefflova K; Watt S; Weirauch MT; Crossley M; Marioni JC; Odom DT; Flicek P; Wilson MD, 2014, 'Multi-species, multi-transcription factor binding highlights conserved control of tissue-specific biological pathways', Elife, 3, pp. 1 - 29, http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02626

Clifton MK; Westman BJ; Thong SY; O'Connell MR; Webster MW; Shepherd NE; Quinlan KG; Crossley M; Blobel GA; Mackay JP, 2014, 'The identification and structure of an N-terminal PR domain show that FOG1 is a member of the PRDM family of proteins', Plos One, 9, pp. e106011, http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106011

Yücel D; Hoe M; Llamosas E; Kant S; Jamieson C; Young PA; Crossley M; Nicholas HR, 2014, 'SUMV-1 antagonizes the activity of synthetic multivulva genes in Caenorhabditis elegans', Developmental Biology, 392, pp. 266 - 282, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.05.018

Funnell APW; Vernimmen D; Lim WF; Mak KS; Wienert B; Martyn GE; Artuz CM; Burdach J; Quinlan KGR; Higgs DR; Whitelaw E; Pearson RCM; Crossley M, 2014, 'Differential regulation of the α-globin locus by Krüppel-like factor 3 in erythroid and non-erythroid cells', BMC Molecular Biology, 15, pp. 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2199-15-8

Mak KS; Burdach J; Norton LJ; Pearson RCM; Crossley M; Funnell APW, 2014, 'Repression of chimeric transcripts emanating from endogenous retrotransposons by a sequence-specific transcription factor', Genome Biology, 15, pp. 3252, http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gb-2014-15-4-r58

Burdach J; Funnell APW; Mak KS; Artuz CM; Wienert B; Lim WF; Tan LY; Pearson RCM; Crossley M, 2014, 'Regions outside the DNA-binding domain are critical for proper in vivo specificity of an archetypal zinc finger transcription factor', Nucleic Acids Research, 42, pp. 276 - 289, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkt895

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