When editing bacteria with CRISPR, less is more

Research team develops approach that increases efficiency of genome editing

13-Feb-2023 - Systematically attenuating DNA targeting activity can achieve CRISPR-driven editing in bacteria, greatly boosting colony counts and even increasing the frequency of precise genome editing. This was shown in a study of the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg (HIRI) in collaboration with the Helmholtz ...

Genome Editing Procedures Optimised

Scientists succeed in boosting the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9 and related methods and modifying initially inaccessible DNA sequences

01-Feb-2023 - In the course of optimising key procedures of genome editing, researchers from the department of Developmental Biology / Physiology at the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University have succeeded in substantially improving the efficiency of molecular genetic methods such as ...

Chickens and pigs with integrated genetic scissors

Genome editing in farm animals

22-Apr-2021 - Genetically engineered animals provide important insights into the molecular basis of health and disease. Research has focused mainly on genetically modified mice, although other species, such as pigs, are more similar to human physiology. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) ...

Merck Licenses CRISPR Gene-Editing Technology to Evotec

License to accelerate research, enable testing and development of new drugs

13-Nov-2019 - Merck announced that it has signed a license agreement providing Evotec SE access to Merck’s foundational CRISPR intellectual property. Evotec, an international biotechnology company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, will use Merck’s CRISPR genome-editing technology to create edited cell lines ...

Immune system of plants: It works differently than expected

18-Jul-2019 - What happens at the molecular level when plants defend against invading pathogens? Previously it was assumed that the processes were roughly the same in all plants. However, this is not true, as a team of biologists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has demonstrated in a new ...

Illuminating the genome

RNA-guided endonuclease - in situ labelling, a new CRISPR/Cas9 based molecular visualisation method

12-Mar-2019 - The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been making ripples in the scientific community ever since its mechanisms were proposed in 2012. Commonly referred to as a genome editing tool, many scientists have found different applications for the scissor-like properties of the Cas9-protein. Researchers from the ...

Precise, Highly Efficient Gene Repair

Researchers develop new CRISPR/Cas process using Japanese ricefish

31-Aug-2018 - The molecular tool CRISPR/Cas allows introducing DNA double strand breaks into any gene of interest consequently resulting in stochastic mutations at the site of the target gene. However, precise gene repair through the application of a rescue construct suffers from limited efficiency. ...

A Pair of RNA Scissors with Many Functions

Arming CRISPR/Cas systems with an enzyme that also controls the translation of genetic information into protein

08-Feb-2018 - CRISPR/Cas systems are known as promising “gene scissors” in the genome editing of plants, animals, and microorganisms by targeting specific regions in their DNA – and perhaps they can even be used to correct genetic defects. A team of scientists led by Juliane Behler and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Hess ...

EPA to Grant Merck’s Patent Application for CRISPR Technology

Related patent application recently awarded in Australia

04-Aug-2017 - Merck announced the European Patent Office (EPO) has issued a “Notice of Intention to Grant” for Merck’s patent application covering the company’s CRISPR technology used in a genomic integration method for eukaryotic cells. The patent will provide Merck’s CRISPR genomic integration technology ...