NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – UK firm Sphere Fluidics announced today that it has won a $1.25 million grant to develop an automated, single-cell genome-engineering platform.
The company — along with Horizon Discovery in the UK, Twist Bioscience in the US, and the University of Edinburgh — were selected for the Open Innovation Grant by InnovateUK from a pool of participants that included companies in every industry in the UK.
Sphere Fluidics manufactures and sells a single-cell analysis and characterization system called Cyto-Mine for the biopharmaceutical discovery and development market. "We recently formed a syndicate of leading experts in genome editing techniques, such as CRISPR/Cas9, with the aim to adapt Cyto-Mine technology to the genome editing field," Sphere Fluidics CEO Frank Craig said in a statement. "The aim of this project is to generate an automated, benchtop device for the creation of high-value, genome-edited cell lines."
Earlier this year, Craig added, the company raised $2.8 million to help complete the development of Cyto-Mine and to open an office in the US.
The company also raised $2.5 million in 2013 for the initial development of the technology, and a further $2.4 million in 2014 to support the development of an "industrial" version of Cyto-Mine.