ASC receives STTR grant to improve Cas9 mediated homologous recombination in iPSCs | ASC

Feb 10th, 2016 (Milpitas CA) - Applied StemCell, Inc. has recently been awarded a Phase I small business grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH) to improve CAS9 mediated homologous recombination in iPSCs.

Cas9 based genome editing is becoming a mainstream tool for stem cell and transgenic research because of its ease of use and high efficiency.

“However, knock-in efficiency remains to be further improved. In general, CRISPR/Cas9 mediated knock-in efficiency in PSCs without drug selection or FACS sorting is estimated to be lower than 1%. It is desirable to improve such efficiency to a workable level (i.e. >10%).  In this Phase I project, we hypothesize that inhibiting non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and/or enhancing the homology directed repair (HDR) via small molecules will improve nuclease mediated knock-in efficiency in pluripotent stem cells”, says the Co-Principal Investigator and CSO, Dr. Ruby Yanru Chen-Tsai. Upon successful completion of the project, ASC expects to identify a number of small molecules that will increase nuclease mediated HR efficiency in human PSCs and other important cell lines and as a result, expanding its product portfolio in reagents for nuclease mediated HR. The current grant is collaboration with Dr. Jifeng Zhang of University of Michigan.

Applied StemCell Inc. (ASC) is a fast growing biotechnology company with its headquarter based in Milpitas, California. ASC offers optimized genome editing tools for stem cell and biomedical research, including products and services for iPSCs. 

For more information, visit www.appliedstemcell.com or contact us at info@appliedstemcell.com.