Research

At Cellectis, upstream research is divided into two major areas. One team of researchers focuses on the engineering of proteins, and more specifically meganucleases, in order to improve their activities and specificity, as well as the sequence space obtainable by these “tailor-made” meganucleases. The other team focuses on the activity of Méganucléases in cells and particularly on improving the efficiency of gene targeting. It is also working on new applications for meganucleases, notably their use in diagnosis.

Cellectis works with a Computational biology team whose task is to analyze and assimilate in vitro and in vivo data as well as structural biology data. Taking advantage of the internal expertise of the various groups in the scientific department, the computational biology group aims, not only to develop better quality Méganucléases (more specific and/or suitable for use in therapeutic applications), but also to significantly reduce the time required to produce Méganucléases (from design to manufacturing).

In order to optimize this computational approach, Cellectis has also developed a structural biology center. This program is outsourced to the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO in Madrid), supervised by Dr. Guillermo Montoya, who heads up a research group. Exclusive access to a significant amount of structural data is one of the keys to the computational biology group gaining further knowledge of the mechanisms governing meganuclease/DNA interactions, but also to optimizing the molecular modeling process and gradually replacing the high-throughput experimental targeting method.

In addition, the research departments can rely on support from the Cellectis Platform. This Platform manufactures all the Méganucléases produced at Cellectis. It enables the research departments to validate their theories in standard production conditions according to strict procedures that guarantee the quality and full traceability of samples. Lean all about the Platform’s work