NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Sigma-Aldrich today announced a gene editing partnership to provide the University of Michigan Medical School's Vector Core with its CRISPR technology, experimental design consultation, and dedicated gene editing bioinformaticians.
According to Sigma-Aldrich, the partnership will accelerate research directed at gene editing at the medical school, which has one initiative underway to construct a large library of Sigma CRISPRs for precision studies of the 100 most common genes that have dysfunctions associated with cancer. The research is led by Assistant Professor Chad Brenner and is expected to support the creation of a dataset of oncogene functions and drug resistance that could be used to improve decision making for the treatment of cancer.
Using the CRISPR-Cas9 technology, Brenner and his fellow researchers will be able "to define the genes and pathways that drive resistance to existing cancer therapies to aid in the development of more effective combination strategies for patients," Brenner said in a statement.
Today's deal will provide other researchers throughout the UM Medical School the same access to extensive experimental design, bioinformatics, and production resources that Brenner already receives from Sigma-Aldrich, the company said.
"The Sigma-Aldrich CRISPR Core partnership helps accelerate the pace of translational research, removing the design and production hurdles with CRISPR or zinc finger nucleases, hence allowing scientists to focus on their research," Sigma-Aldrich Director of Strategic Marketing and Collaborations Sean Muthian said.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.