NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Sage Labs said today it has entered into a partnership and licensing agreement that provides it access to Caribou Biosciences' intellectual property related to the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system.
As part of the deal, Sage will have exclusive rights to Caribou's IP to produce and sell genetically engineered rats. It also gains non-exclusive rights for mouse and rabbit models.
The Cas9 enzyme derives from the CRISPR prokaryotic immune system and is a genome editing platform that skips the need for protein development. The system, St. Louis-based Sage said, complements its zinc finger nuclease technology and allows it to offer customers access to novel animal models of human disease and to reduce turnaround times for its custom model creation platform called Sagespeed.
"Using Cas9 allows us to provide our customers with enhanced models that provide the most translational value for their research," Sage CEO David Smoller said in a statement.
Financial and other terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sage provides research models and tools, such as zinc finger nucleases, and transgenic support services. Caribou develops technologies for cellular engineering and analysis.