CRISPR, crispr genome editing system

How the US CRISPR patent probe will play out

There is no shortage of optimism about the scientific potential of CRISPR–Cas9, a technique that can precisely alter the genomes of everything from wheat to elephants. But there is a great deal of confusion over who will benefit financially from its use. On 10 March, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will begin an investigation into who deserves the patent on using CRISPR–Cas9 to edit genes. This ‘patent interference’ could determine who profits from CRISPR in coming years. Already, companies have sprung up to take advantage of the technique in agriculture, industrial biotechnology and the treatment of human diseases. One firm, Editas Medicine in Cambridge, Massachusetts, raised US$94 million when it went public on 2 February, even though it does not...

08.03.2016 admin News No Comment

Researchers enhance CRISPR gene editing technology

Scientists have developed a process that improves the efficiency of CRISPR, an up-and-coming technology used to edit DNA. “Scientists all over the world are using CRISPR right now in their studies, but the technology is not as functional as it could be,” says Haoquan Wu, Ph.D., who enhanced the process and is a biomedical scientist at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso (TTUHSC El Paso). CRISPR is a groundbreaking technology that allows scientists to modify genes. Two key components make CRISPR’s DNA editing ability possible. The first is Cas9, an enzyme capable of cutting DNA. The second component is single guide RNA, which directs Cas9 on exactly which portion of a DNA strain to snip to deactivate the...

03.03.2016 admin News No Comment

Bayer and Baxalta Battle for Gene Editing Domination With Billions of Dollars at Stake

The announcement comes hot on the heels of a now-$335 million deal between aspirin mainstay Bayer AG and gene editing startup CRISPR Therapeutics to create commercial gene therapies to treat congenital heart disease, blindness and blood disorders. We are very impressed by the scientific team of CRISPR Therapeutics as they have built the most promising gene-editing technology on the market, Dr. Axel Bouchon, head of the Bayer LifeScience Center, said in a press release. This is perfectly suited to fully leverage Bayer’s expertise in protein engineering and knowledge in the targeted disease areas of this [joint venture]. While the technologies CRISPR Therapeutics and Precision Bio use are different – CRISPR Therapeutics uses CRISPR/Cas9, Precision Bio has a proprietary method called...

03.03.2016 admin News No Comment

Software Helps Gene Editing Tool CRISPR Live Up to Its Hype

New algorithms make CRISPR as easy as point-and-click Biotechnologists are jumping at the chance to use the revolutionary gene-editing tool known as CRISPR. The molecular gadget can be programmed to accurately tweak the DNA of any organism, but scientists need software algorithms to hasten the programming process. Dozens of teams are developing such software, and each faces the task of keeping up with rapidly evolving science and an increasingly crowded field. CRISPR—short for Clustered, Regularly Interspaced, Short Palindromic Repeats—is a genetic phenomenon found in microbes that scientists adapted to disable a gene or add DNA at precise locations in the genetic code. CRISPR isn’t the first gene-editing tool on the block, but it is by far the simplest and cheapest,...

23.02.2016 admin News No Comment

Desktop Genetics, Imperial College London Receive $430K Grant to Build CRISPR Software

Genome editing software company Desktop Genetics and Imperial College London’s cancer epigenetics unit have received a £300,000 ($430,000) grant from Innovate UK, which they will use to develop software tools that selectively design CRISPR/Cas9 targets against cancer cell lines that are characterized at the epigenetic level. The planned software tool will combine Desktop Genetics’ predictive biomodelling capabilities with heterogeneous genomic and epigenomic datasets. It will help researchers investigate the epigenetic mechanisms that underpin resistance to chemotherapy in ovarian cancer cell lines. “This project will combine the best elements of epigenetic research, bioinformatics, and CRISPR to create a tool that solves a real problem in the field of oncology,” Bob Brown, chair of translational oncology in Imperial College’s department of surgery...

23.02.2016 admin News No Comment

British approval of embryonic gene editing research brings CRISPR into focus

The newest developments in editing genes in human embryos will come from the United Kingdom after scientists from the Francis Crick Institute were granted approval to work on human gene editing in embryos. In early February, the British government’s fertility regulator granted a research application for institute researchers who will reportedly use gene editing techniques to analyze the earliest stages of embryo development in the first weeks after conception. We’ve discussed gene editing techniques involving CRISPR and Cas9 in recent weeks here on IPWatchdog, especially their use in combating HIV/AIDS. However, the use of the Cas9 enzyme to snip genetic code of specific CRISPR clustered repeats, or to insert new code, could eventually be used to edit code in embryos,...

23.02.2016 admin News No Comment

Jennifer Doudna Answers Questions about CRISPR

JENNIFER DOUDNA SPEAKS AT HER 13 FEBRUARY PLENARY SESSION AT THE 2016 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING. | BOSTON ATLANTIC PHOTOGRAPHY Last year, the genome-editing method CRISPR came to power as a technology poised to change everything from how we fight disease to whether we might finally be able to rid the world of the mosquito. The journal Science named CRISPR its Breakthrough of the Year, and Time magazine named one of its discoverers, University of California, Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna, as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In her 13 February plenary talk at the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting, Doudna took her audience through the technical breakthroughs that turned her “curiosity-driven science project” on how bacteria build immunity against viruses...

14.02.2016 admin News No Comment

Cocrystal Pharma Announces In-Licensing of CRISPR Cas Technologies for Hepatitis B Virus and Human Papilloma Virus

ATLANTA, GA 02/10/16 Cocrystal Pharma, Inc. (OTCQB: COCP), a company focused on developing novel antiviral therapeutics for human diseases, announced today it has signed an agreement with Duke University and Emory University to license various patents and know-how to use CRISPR/Cas9 technologies for developing a possible cure for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papilloma virus (HPV). “We’re pleased to bring the CRISPR/Cas DNA editing technology developed in our laboratories into the clinic,” said Bryan R. Cullen, Ph.D., the James B. Duke Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at Duke University School of Medicine. “We look forward to adding Cocrystal to our team as they are committed to helping the development of potential new treatment options for chronic HBV and...

10.02.2016 admin News No Comment

The billion-dollar CRISPR patent battle: A case of big money shaping science

The 21st century is still young, but it may already have its era-defining patent fight. The contestants are the University of California and the Broad Institute, a Harvard- and MIT-affiliated research foundation endowed by Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad. At stake are the rights to a breakthrough gene-editing technology known as CRISPR — and more precisely, to billions of dollars in royalties and license fees likely to flow to whichever claimant prevails before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (and in the almost inevitable appeals in court). “This is a monumental event for patent attorneys, molecular biologists, the PTO, and the world,” patent expert Jacob Sherkow wrote recently on Stanford’s Law and Biosciences blog. CRISPR — an acronym for the...

07.02.2016 admin News No Comment

CRISPR may be used for oil production through the yeast with edited genome

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) — A team led by a researcher at the University of California, Riverside has adapted the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system for use in a yeast strain that can produce useful lipids and polymers. The development will lead to new precursors for biofuels, specialty polymers, adhesives and fragrances. Published recently in the journalACS Synthetic Biology, the research involves the oleaginous (oil-producing) yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, which is known for converting sugars to lipids and hydrocarbons that are difficult to make synthetically. Until now, Y. lipolytica has been hard to manipulate at the genetic level, but the application of CRISPR-Cas9 will change that, allowing scientists to tap into its bio-manufacturing potential. Described in 2012, CRISPR-Cas9 is a groundbreaking technique that...

01.02.2016 admin News No Comment