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Felix Horns

rfhorns at gmail dot com










Now

I am a scientist and inventor working at the interface of genomics and synthetic biology.

I develop molecular, genomic, and computational tools, and apply them to understand and control cells, especially in the immune system and the brain.

As a postdoctoral fellow, I am working with Michael Elowitz in the Division of Biology and Bioengineering at Caltech. I am supported by the Chen Institute for Neuroscience and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. I am grateful for past support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation.

I created RNA exporters, inspired by viruses, which package and secrete RNA from mammalian cells within protective nanoparticles. These synthetic systems enable non-destructive measurement of cell dynamics by exporting and sequencing RNA, and cell-to-cell delivery of RNA circuits for therapeutics.

Previously

I was a PhD student in Biophysics at Stanford University advised by Stephen Quake and supported by the National Science Foundation. I developed single-cell genomics, antibody repertoire sequencing, and biophysical tools, and applied them to understand human antibody responses to disease and vaccination. I also used single-cell transcriptomics and machine learning approaches to decipher cell-type diversity during brain development and understand the molecular basis of neural circuit assembly, in collaboration with Liqun Luo.

Before graduate school, I studied the evolution of immunity and infectious disease as a Fulbright Scholar with Anna-Liisa Laine in the Metapopulation Research Group at the University of Helsinki. I also studied Computational Biology at the University of Cambridge. As an undergraduate, I studied Biology at Amherst College, where I worked with Michael Hood on genome evolution, transposable elements, and infectious disease modeling.

Publications

  1. F Horns†, JA Martinez, C Fan, M Haque, JM Linton, V Tobin, L Santat, AO Maggiolo, PJ Bjorkman, C Lois, MB Elowitz†,
    "Engineering RNA export for measurement and manipulation of living cells."
    Cell, 186(17): 3642-3658.E32 (2023). [abstract] [pdf] [code] [preview] [news]
  2. EL Shrock, RT Timms, T Kula, EL Mena, AP West Jr, R Guo, I-H Lee, AA Cohen, LGA McKay, C Bi, Keerti, Y Leng, E Fujimura, F Horns, M Li, DR Wesemann, A Griffiths, BE Gewurz, PJ Bjorkman, SJ Elledge,
    "Germline-encoded amino acid-binding motifs drive immunodominant public antibody responses."
    Science, 380(6640): eadc9498 (2023). [abstract] [pdf]
  3. M Swift, F Horns, SR Quake,
    "Lineage tracing reveals fate bias and transcriptional memory in human B cells."
    Life Science Alliance, 6(3): e202201792 (2023). [abstract] [pdf]
  4. S Lee and the Fly Cell Atlas Consortium, including F Horns,
    "Diverse cell-specific patterns of alternative polyadenylation in Drosophila."
    Nature Communications, 13(1): 5372 (2022). [abstract] [pdf]
  5. D Yang*, MG Jones*, S Naranjo, WM Rideout III, KHJ Min, R Ho, W Wu, JM Replogle, JL Page, JJ Quinn, F Horns, X Qiu, MZ Chen, WA Freed-Pastor, CS McGinnis, DM Patterson, ZJ Gartner, ED Chow, TG Bivona, MM Chan, N Yosef, T Jacks, JS Weissman,
    "Lineage tracing reveals the phylodynamics, plasticity, and paths of tumor evolution."
    Cell, 185(11): 1905-1923 (2022). [abstract] [pdf]
  6. H Li*, J Janssens*, and the Fly Cell Atlas Consortium, including F Horns,
    "Fly Cell Atlas: A single-nucleus transcriptomic atlas of the adult fruit fly."
    Science, 375(6584): eabk2432 (2022). [abstract] [pdf]
  7. CN McLaughlin*, M Brbic*, Q Xie, T Li, F Horns, SS Kolluru, JM Kebschull, D Vacek, A Xie, J Li, RC Jones, J Leskovec, SR Quake, L Luo, H Li,
    "Single-cell transcriptomes of developing and adult olfactory receptor neurons in Drosophila."
    eLife, 10, e63856 (2021). [abstract] [pdf]
  8. Q Xie, M Brbic, F Horns, SS Kolluru, RC Jones, J Li, AR Reddy, A Xie, S Kohani, Z Li, CN McLaughlin, T Li, C Xu, D Vacek, DJ Luginbuhl, J Leskovec, SR Quake, L Luo, H Li,
    "Temporal evolution of single-cell transcriptomes of Drosophila olfactory projection neurons."
    eLife, 10, e63450 (2021). [abstract] [pdf]
  9. F Horns, SR Quake,
    "Cloning antibodies from single cells in pooled sequence libraries by selective PCR."
    PLOS ONE, 15(8): e0236477 (2020). [abstract] [pdf] [code]
  10. H Li*, T Li*, F Horns, J Li, Q Xie, C Xu, B Wu, JM Kebschull, CN McLaughlin, SS Kolluru, RC Jones, D Vacek, A Xie, DJ Luginbuhl, SR Quake, L Luo,
    "Single-Cell Transcriptomes Reveal Diverse Regulatory Strategies for Olfactory Receptor Expression and Axon Targeting."
    Current Biology, 30(7), 1189-1198 (2020). [abstract] [pdf]
  11. F Horns, CL Dekker, SR Quake,
    "Memory B Cell Activation, Broad Anti-influenza Antibodies, and Bystander Activation Revealed by Single-Cell Transcriptomics."
    Cell Reports, 30(3), 905-913 (2020). [abstract] [pdf] [code]
  12. F Horns, C Vollmers, CL Dekker, SR Quake,
    "Signatures of selection in the human antibody repertoire: selective sweeps, competing subclones, and neutral drift."
    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(4), 1261-1266 (2019). [abstract] [pdf] [SI] [code]
  13. H Li*, F Horns*, B Wu, Q Xie, J Li, T Li, DJ Luginbuhl, SR Quake, L Luo,
    "Classifying Drosophila olfactory projection neuron subtypes by single-cell RNA sequencing."
    Cell, 171(5), 1206-1220 (2017). [abstract] [pdf] [code] [news]
  14. F Horns, E Petit, ME Hood,
    "Massive expansion of Gypsy-like retrotransposons in Microbotryum fungi."
    Genome Biology and Evolution, 9(2), 363-371 (2017). [abstract] [pdf] [cover]
  15. F Horns*, C Vollmers*, D Croote, SF Mackey, GE Swan, CL Dekker, MM Davis, SR Quake,
    "Lineage tracing of human B cells reveals the in vivo landscape of human antibody class switching."
    eLife, 5, e16578 (2016). [abstract] [pdf] [code] [news]
  16. AJM Tack, F Horns, AL Laine,
    "The impact of spatial scale and habitat configuration on patterns of trait variation and local adaptation in a wild plant parasite."
    Evolution, 68(1), 176-189 (2014). [abstract] [pdf]
  17. F Horns, E Petit, R Yockteng, ME Hood,
    "Patterns of repeat-induced point mutation in transposable elements of basidiomycete fungi."
    Genome Biology and Evolution, 4(3), 240-247 (2012). [abstract] [pdf]
  18. F Horns, ME Hood,
    "The evolution of disease resistance and tolerance in spatially structured populations."
    Ecology and Evolution, 2(7), 1705-1711 (2012). [abstract] [pdf]

    19. * denotes equal contribution.

    † denotes co-corresponding authors.

Links

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Google Scholar

GPG public key

Copyright © 2023 Felix Horns.