Cellectis and Stemgent Partner to Provide Custom Genome-engineered iPS Cells
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Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) March 7th, 2013 - Cellectis bioresearch, a subsidiary of Cellectis Group (Alternext: ALCLS), the genome engineering specialist, announced today a collaboration agreement with Stemgent, Inc. to provide research services that combines mRNA reprogramming technology and genome engineering.
Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA) March 7th, 2013 - Cellectis bioresearch, a subsidiary of Cellectis Group (Alternext: ALCLS), the genome engineering specialist, announced today a collaboration agreement with Stemgent, Inc. to provide research services that combines mRNA reprogramming technology and genome engineering.
The partnership marries Cellectis bioresearch’s leadership in genome engineering with Stemgent’s expertise in cellular reprogramming. Stemgent’s proprietary mRNA reprogramming technology addresses the challenges around deriving non-viral, non-integrating, clinically-relevant induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for use in regenerative medicine, drug discovery, and basic research. Traditional reprogramming methods can lead to the integration of unwanted genetic material into the host genome and therefore can be disruptive to the reprogrammed cell’s function.
Targeted genome engineering is a powerful technology that can be used to elucidate the genetic basis of diseases and to evaluate drug candidates through the generation of cell-based assays. Cellectis bioresearch’s TALENTM-based genome engineering technology enables the directed introduction of disease-specific genetic mutations to mimic disease and of reporter genes with fluorescent/luminescent tags to evaluate drug candidate efficacy, specificity and toxicity. Together these two powerful technologies pave the way for clinically-relevant applications in regenerative medicine.
Cellectis Group CEO André Choulika said, “The collaboration between Stemgent and Cellectis fits with our mission to enable scientists worldwide with the tools to generate genome-engineered iPS cells for use in their research and regenerative medicine.”
“Drug toxicity testing is an important part of early-stage drug development," continued Ian Ratcliffe, Stemgent President and CEO. “The challenge researchers face is that current models to test drugs are often inadequate. With this partnership and the combined technologies, we can introduce mutations into reprogrammed cells and differentiate them into downstream lineages. Researchers can utilize these cells to test how mutations, known and unknown, alter the biology of the cells upon exposure to drugs.”