ERS Genomics and Cellecta announced a non-exclusive license agreement to provide Cellecta 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."
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.