NEW YORK – GenScript and Ireland's Avectas said on Tuesday that they're partnering to develop a non-viral cell therapy manufacturing process.
Under the terms of the agreement, their research teams will apply Avectas' Solupore technology to permeabilize target cell membranes to deliver GenScript's GenCRISPR single guide RNA, CRISPR-Cas9 protein, and GenExact single-stranded DNA homology-directed repair templates.
"By combining Avectas' cell engineering technology and know-how with GenScript's expertise in synthetic long oligo production, the partnership aims to demonstrate a novel and efficient solution for cell therapy manufacturing and to improve editing efficiency and cell viability over traditional delivery methods," the firms said in a statement.
"We expect this method will provide our customers with more complete solutions for efficient gene editing using our GenCRISPR sgRNA and ss/dsDNA HDR templates," Ray Chen, president of GenScript USA Life Science Group, added.
GenScript, a Piscataway, New Jersey-based synthetic DNA maker, is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In May 2021, the firm licensed the ERS Genomics CRISPR-Cas9 patent portfolio, based on IP held by Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of the pioneers of CRISPR genome editing.
Avectas offers Solupore, a cell engineering technology that delivers payloads to cells by diffusion across a permeabilized membrane.