Owing to CRISPR/Cas9 technology, speedily expanding gene editing field spawned a lot of CRISPR companies.
CRISPR-Cas9 mechanism
CRISPR technology arose from the studies of bacteria’s defense mechanisms.
CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats.
The main idea behind of CRISPR/Cas9 mechanism is that bacteria, during viral infection, cuts invader’s genetic material and inserts pieces of it into its genome. The sequences that contain bits of DNA from viruses got the name – CRISPR.
After a subsequent invasion of the similar viruses, bacteria use RNA, copied from CRISPR, to recognize the genetic material of the invader and destroy it by Cas proteins.
Scientists converted CRISPR/Cas9 bacterial defense mechanism into a gene-editing tool. By giving the right RNA to Cas proteins, scientists get the possibility to cut and insert fragments of DNA sequences into any place of a target genome.
CRISPR companies develop CRISPR/Cas9 systems, methods and protocols to serve specific needs of scientists.
List of CRISPR companies in the market:
CRISPR startup companies
MammothBiosciences CRISPR company
Location: 953 Indiana St., San Francisco, CA 94107
“The CRISPR-based platform for disease detection.”
The mission is to build “an endless variety of tests for bio sensing in healthcare, as well as across industries such as agriculture, manufacturing, forensics, and more”.
Co-founder, Chair of Scientific Advisory Board – Dr. Jennifer Doudna (inventor of the application of CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing).
Caribou Biosciences CRISPR company
Caribou Biosciences Location: 2929 7th Street, Suite 105, Berkeley, CA 94710
Founded in 2011
Caribou Biosciences is one of the biotech startups working with CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology.
The Caribou Biosciences site states - “Caribou Biosciences is a rapidly growing leader in one of the most revolutionary developments in science this century – CRISPR-Cas gene editing.”
The Caribou utilizes the CRISPR-Cas9 technology platform in four priority markets:
- Therapeutic development
- Agricultural biotechnology
- Biological research
- Industrial biotechnology
Co-founder, Chair of Scientific Advisory Board – Dr. Jennifer Doudna.
Intellia Therapeutics CRISPR company
Intellia Therapeutics Location: 40 Erie Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
Founded in 2014
Intellia Therapeutics is a startup genome editing company developing therapies using the CRISPR gene editing systems.
The mission is “to develop potentially curative gene editing treatments that can positively transform the lives of people living with severe and life-threatening diseases”.
In vivo programs are focused on inborn errors of metabolism, and liver diseases, such as transthyretin amyloidosis, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, hepatitis B virus.
To deliver the CRISPR/Cas9 complex to the liver, in vivo programs focus on the use of Lipid Nanoparticle (LNPs).
Ex vivo programs focused on:
- engineered cell therapies for oncological and autoimmune diseases;
- chimeric antigen receptor T cells and hematopoietic stem cells.
Co-founder – Dr. Jennifer Doudna.
Editas Medicine, Inc. CRISPR company
Location: 11 Hurley Street, Cambridge, MA 02141
Editas Medicine is a discovery-phase genome editing company “dedicated to treating patients with genetically defined diseases”.
The mission is similar to other startup CRISPR companies and aimed to develop therapies that utilize CRISPR gene editing technology.
Areas of Research:
- Eye diseases
- Muscle diseases
- Blood diseases
- Lung diseases
- Liver diseases
- Cancer
CRISPR Therapeutics company
CRISPR Therapeutics Worldwide Locations
Founded in 2013
CRISPR Therapeutics is a genome editing company being in discovery-phase. It has its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing platform.
The mission is the development of “transformative gene-based medicines”.
Three main categories of therapeutic candidates:
- ex vivo treatments for hemoglobinopathies
- allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies for cancer
- in vivo treatments for diseases of the liver, lung, and muscle
Scientific founder - Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier (co-inventor of the use of CRISPR/Cas9 for gene editing).
Eligo Bioscience CRISPR company
Eligo Bioscience Location: 29 rue du Faubourg Saint-Jacques, 75014, Paris - FRANCE
Founded in 2014
Eligo Bioscience is a French startup CRISPR-Cas9 company.
The aim of this microbiome company to develop a new type of antimicrobial drugs, eligobiotics, instead of traditional antibiotics or probiotics.
Eligo Bioscience believes the creation of SSAMS (Sequence-Specific Antimicrobials) eligobiotics to precisely kill harmful bacteria will allow coping with antibiotic-resistant diseases.
Eligo Bioscience’s method is based on an artificial DNA carring CRISPR-Cas9 system and a bacteriophage capsid as a transport vehicle. Inside the bacteria, eligobiotics find unique gene sequences and cut them up to destroy the virulent or resistant strains.
Full-fledged biotechnology and gene editing companies working with CRISPR technology
Horizon Discovery (LSE: HZD) Life Science company
Horizon Discovery Worldwide Locations
Founded in 2007
Horizon is a fully integrated Life Science company. It provides “enabling products, services and research programs to clients engaged at every stage of the healthcare continuum from sequence to treatment”.
Horizon provides:
- rAAV, ZFN and CRISPR custom cell line and in vivo model generation services,
- quantitative molecular reference standards,
- in vivo disease models,
- contract research and custom screening services.
Dharmacon, a Horizon Discovery Group biotechnology company
Founded in 1995
Dharmacon is one of CRISPR companies of gene modulation businesses.
As leaders in custom RNA synthesis, areas of research and research tools have developed “to support all aspects of RNAi interference; siRNA, lentiviral shRNA, tools for microRNA research and genome scale libraries for RNAi functional screens of genes, microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs”.
Dharmacon released a suite of innovative CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tools. It offers “one of the most comprehensive CRISPR gene editing portfolios in the industry, including the first arrayed synthetic CRISPR RNA whole human genome library”.
Sigma-Aldrich Corporation biotechnology company
Sigma-Aldrich Corporation Worldwide Locations
Sigma-Aldrich Corporation is an chemical, life science and biotechnology company.
Founded in 1975
Mission is “to solve the toughest problems in life science by collaborating with the global scientific community” and “to accelerate access to better health for people everywhere”.
Three business sectors include:
- Healthcare,
- Life Science,
- Performance Materials
Sigma provides functional genomics technologies:
- RNA interference (RNAi) tools for gene silencing (siRNA, esiRNA, shRNA, miRNA),
- cutting-edge systems for gene editing and gene knockout (Sigma CRISPR, CompoZr),
- tools for gene expression (LentiORFs).
GenScript biotechnology company
GenScript Worldwide Distributors
Founded in 2002
GenScript is a biotech company. It specializes in fundamental life sciences research and early-phase drug discovery services.
“GenScript encompasses extensive services in gene synthesis and molecular biology, peptide synthesis, protein expression and engineering, custom antibody development and engineering, animal model development, in vitro/in vivo pharmacology as well as variety of catalogue products.”
GenScript offers CRISPR products, services and resources that are helpful in CRISPR genome editing researches.
CRISPR Products and Services at GenScript.
Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) biotechnology company
Integrated DNA Technologies Worldwide Locations
Founded in 1987
IDT 's primary business is to develop, manufacture and market nucleic acid products (custom DNA and RNA oligonucleotides) for research applications.
Integrated DNA Technologies developed proprietary technologies for genomics applications:
- Next Generation Sequencing,
- CRISPR genome editing,
- qPCR, and RNA interference.
IDT has free online computational software to help to design and evaluate the properties of nucleic acid sequences.
Through our GMP services, Integrated DNA Technologies manufactures “products used in diagnostic tests for many forms of cancer and most inherited and infectious diseases”.
New England BioLabs, Inc. Life Science biotechnology company
New England BioLabs Worldwide Locations
Founded in 1974
New England Biolabs (NEB) produces and supplies “the largest selection of recombinant and native enzymes for genomic research”. The core product portfolio of NEB are restriction enzymes. It offers products related to PCR, gene expression, cellular analysis, RNA analysis and epigenetics, and provides solutions supporting genome editing, synthetic biology and next-generation sequencing.
NEB provides free access to interactive research and experimental design tools.
New England Biolabs offers reagents to support CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing approaches.
OriGene Technologies, Inc biotechnology company
OriGene Technologies Worldwide Locations
OriGene Technologies Worldwide Distributors
Founded in 1996
OriGene's vision is “to prepare comprehensive, genome wide research tools and technology platforms to enable scientists to study complete biological pathways”.
The major expertise of OriGene is creating vectors. It has the cDNA clone collection, “a searchable gene bank of over 30,000 human full-length TrueClone cDNA collection and over 25,000 TrueORF cDNA clones”.
OriGene Technologies Products include:
- cDNA Clones
- Antibodies (an extensive range of antibodies from various species)
- Proteins (over 10,000 full-length human proteins produced in human cells)
- Vectors
- RNAi (RNA Interference)
- Genome Editing
- Assay Kits
- Human cancer and normal tissue products
OriGene offers a range of products for gene expression perturbation and detection, including CRISPR tools and qPCR reagents.
As one of CRISPR companies, OriGene provides reagents to support different CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing applications:
- CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Knockout Kits
- A variety of CRISPR/Cas9 vectors for genome editing.
- Targeted Transgene Insertion into the AAVS1 Locus
- Synthetic single guide (sgRNA) for efficient genome editing
Transposagen, Inc. biotechnology company
Transposagen, Inc. Location: 535 West Second Street, Suite 10, Lexington, KY 40508
Founded in 2005
Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately-held biotechnology company.
The mission is to provide academic and drug discovery researchers with comprehensive gene editing products and services.
Specialties include:
- Custom knockout and transgenic rat production,
- Disease and research model creation,
- Custom cell line production,
- Stem cells,
- iPS cells
Transposagen, Inc. developed a unique toolbox of gene editing technologies:
- Footprint-Free™ Editing Kits
- piggyBac™ (The piggyBac transposon is a non-viral technology for stable cell line engineering.)
- CRISPR
- XTN™ TALEN
- AAVS1 Safe Harbor Kits
Its genome engineering technologies and services are used in therapeutics, research and drug discovery, bioproduction, clinical genetic testing, and agriculture applications.
Thermo Fisher Scientific biotechnology product development company
Thermo Fisher Scientific Worldwide Locations
Founded in 2006
Thermo Fisher Scientific is an American biotechnology product development company. Thermo Fisher has offices and operations in many countries. It is the world leader in serving science.
Thermo Fisher Scientific developed “the only complete toolset comprising trusted solutions for every step in the cell engineering workflow”.
It offers a range of genome editing solutions, as well as tools and solutions for every step in the CRISPR genome editing workflow.
Thermo Scientific provides free Web Tools
- Primer design and analysis
- Restriction digestion tools
- Reaction setup calculators
- Biochemical conversions