Ipswich, Massachusetts, USA and Vilnius, Lithuania
December 5, 2017
New England Biolabs, Inc. (NEB®) and CasZyme, a recently-formed startup company based in Vilnius, Lithuania, announced today that they have entered into a multi-year collaboration to identify and commercialize CRISPR-Cas nucleases, with the goal of providing researchers with additional tools for genome editing and molecular biology applications.
Under the terms of the agreement, CasZyme and NEB will apply their enzymology expertise to identify and characterize Cas nucleases. NEB will then manufacture and make these nucleases commercially available for global distribution.
Ted Davis, Executive Director of Applications and Product Development for NEB, stated: "The scientific founders of CasZyme are pioneers in CRISPR/Cas research, with a significant history of advancing our understanding of key enzymes involved in nucleic acid recognition in the context of bacterial immune systems. We are excited to undertake this joint endeavor that we believe will advance CRISPR/Cas science and enable new applications of Cas9 enzymes in vitro and in vivo."
Monika Kavaliauske, CasZyme's CEO added: "We are extremely pleased to collaborate with New England Biolabs, as we believe that together we can create value for researchers and companies practicing gene editing worldwide. NEB's experience with enzyme discovery and manufacturing will significantly contribute to the success of our business."
With additional Cas nucleases being identified and characterized throughout the microbial world, and a rapid expansion of the genome editing field, this collaboration will provide researchers additional tools with which to employ the CRISPR-Cas system, thereby furthering innovation.
Learn more about genome editing at https://www.neb.com/applications/genome-editing
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