Charles River expands CRISPR/Cas9 service offering

11-Dec-2017 - Last updated on 11-Dec-2017 at 14:45 GMT

(Image: Getty/ktsimage)

It is an “exciting time in drug discovery,” says Charles River CSO as the company expands its CRISPR/Cas9 service offering with a license from ERS Genomics.

The contract research organization (CRO) also has license agreements with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

With the license from ERS, Charles River will be able to offer clients access to a comprehensive portfolio in vitro and in vivo of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing techniques, Dr. Iva Morse, corporate vice president, chief scientific officer of Global Research Models and Services at Charles River told us.

“They can work with us to develop in vitro models and cell lines, and later place them in in vivo studies, ultimately increasing efficiency,” she added.

Looking to the next five to 10 years, Morse said one of the main goals will be increasing the number of applications that are “refining and fine-tuning” the technology’s use.

“CRISPR/Cas9 has made genome editing more broadly accessible. The technology has made it faster and more cost-effective for a range of clients to deploy gene editing in their discovery process,” she said, noting that adoption of the editing tool has been rapid.

“This is an exciting time in drug discovery,” Morse added. “CRISPR/Cas9 has opened many doors in genome editing, making years’ worth of progress in a fraction of the time.”