The newly developed transcription activator-like effector protein (TALE) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/Cas9 transcription factors (TF) offered a powerful and precise approach for modulating gene expression. In this article, we systematically investigated the potential of these new tools in activating the stringently silenced pluripotency gene Oct4 (Pou5f1) in mouse and human somatic cells. First, with a number of TALEs and sgRNAs targeting various regions in the mouse and human Oct4 promoters, we found that the most efficient TALE-VP64s bound around −120 to −80 bp, while highly effective sgRNAs targeted from −147 to −89-bp upstream of the transcription start sites to induce high activity of luciferase reporters. In addition, we observed significant transcriptional synergy when multiple TFs were applied simultaneously. Although individual TFs exhibited marginal activity to up-regulate endogenous gene expression, optimized combinations of TALE-VP64s could enhance endogenous Oct4 transcription up to 30-fold in mouse NIH3T3 cells and 20-fold in human HEK293T cells. More importantly, the enhancement of OCT4 transcription ultimately generated OCT4 proteins. Furthermore, examination of different epigenetic modifiers showed that histone acetyltransferase p300 could enhance both TALE-VP64 and sgRNA/dCas9-VP64 induced transcription of endogenous OCT4. Taken together, our study suggested that engineered TALE-TF and dCas9-TF are useful tools for modulating gene expression in mammalian cells.

Entrepreneurial technology-based new venture constitutes a dominant proportion of incubated firms. Often, such firms are established by engineering graduates. This paper investigates a methodology for assessing the potential for success of new ventures set up at an early stage by engineering students via an evaluation of the entrepreneurial personalities of engineering students. The survey of 215 students of Manufacturing Engineering indicates particular traits have a strong predictive impact on the proclivity towards the different 'idea factors on innovation' suggested by Goldenberg et al. [1999]. In particular, 'risk-taking propensity' and 'need to achieve' are two critical characteristics that significantly influence the selection of 'success-intended' idea factors whereas 'external locus of control' influences the selection of 'failure-intended' idea factors. The findings have important implications for researchers, business incubators, and policy makers inside and outside universities. Based on the extensive literature and successful result in demonstrating entrepreneurial characteristics as predictors of sustainable competitive advantage of future entrepreneurs by identifying types of idea factor adopter, the results of this study can be used either as a self-evaluation (self-screening) before starting a new venture that has a higher success probability. Specifically, the results indicate that the classification of idea factor adopters, in terms of entrepreneurial behavior, the incubator may be better able to identify the go or no-go decision for applicants. For instance, incubators could try to base their selection process for business incubation programme partly on information provided by applicants about personality traits and preferences regarding entrepreneurship.

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