DUBLIN, Ireland, and Mountain View, CA, November 10, 2017 – ERS Genomics Ltd. and Cellecta, Inc. announced today a non-exclusive license agreement to provide Cellecta with worldwide access to ERS Genomics’ CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing intellectual property for use in informing research tools and services. ERS Genomics holds rights to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patent portfolio from Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, who along with Dr. Jennifer Doudna at the University of California, Berkeley, adapted the CRISPR system into a breakthrough gene editing technology.
Cellecta is the first commercial provider of a lentiviral-based CRISPR library targeting all 19,000+ human protein-coding genes, and an industry leader in RNAi and CRISPR technologies for the discovery and characterization of novel therapeutic targets. Its off-the-shelf and custom genetic libraries, constructs, and kits are widely used in commercial and academic laboratories researching disease progression and therapeutic interventions.
“As a leader in advancing high-throughput genetic screening and discovery applications for novel therapeutic targets and drugs, Cellecta is adding to the growing list of companies who are making the CRISPR/Cas9 technology broadly accessible to the scientific community,” said Eric Rhodes, CEO of ERS Genomics. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Cellecta on these aligned interests.”
“CRISPR/Cas9 technology is proving to be an increasingly valuable tool for target discovery and validation applications,” said Dr. Paul Diehl, COO of Cellecta. “Cellecta is pleased to offer a growing portfolio of products and services to aid researchers in obtaining a deeper understanding of gene function using this important technology.”
Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier’s research unveiled the key components and mechanisms of the CRISPR/Cas9 system that led to the landmark publication with Jennifer Doudna (Jinek, Chylinski et al., 2012), which laid the foundation for the use of CRISPR/Cas9 as a highly versatile and precise genome editing tool.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
ERS Genomics was formed to provide broad access to the foundational CRISPR/Cas9 intellectual property held by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier. Non-exclusive licenses are available for research and sale of products and services across multiple fields including: research tools, kits, reagents; discovery of novel targets for therapeutic intervention; cell lines for discovery and screening of novel drug candidates; GMP production of healthcare products; production of industrial materials such as enzymes, biofuels and chemicals; and synthetic biology. For additional information please visit www.ersgenomics.com.
Cellecta, Inc. is the first commercial provider of a lentiviral-based CRISPR library targeting all 19,000+ human protein-coding genes. Cellecta is an industry leader in RNAi and CRISPR technologies for the discovery and characterization of novel therapeutic targets, and targeted gene profiling for biomarker discovery. Numerous scientific papers have been published citing Cellecta’s functional genomics portfolio offering gene knockout and knockdown screens, custom and genome-wide RNAi and CRISPR libraries, cell engineering, RNAi and CRISPR construct services, and targeted expression profiling and biomarker discovery in disease samples. Cellecta, Inc. is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Further information about the company and its functional genomic products and services may be found online at www.cellecta.com.
Contact ERS Genomics:
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Mario Brkulj or Dr. Stephanie May
Direct: +49 89 2420 9345 or +48 89 2420 9344
E-Mail: mbrkulj@macbiocom.com or smay@macbiocom.com
Contact Cellecta:
Cellecta, Inc.
Paul Diehl, 650-938-4050
pauld@cellecta.com
or
Media:
Ruth Mercado, 650-938-4080
rmercado@cellecta.com