{credit}Michael Helfenbein{/credit}
The term “genome-editing” has become synonymous with CRISPR-Cas. But there’s more than one way to edit a genome, and each has its pros and cons.
TechBlog: eMAGE extends the gene-editing toolkit
Tag Archives: George Church
TechBlog: How to build long DNA
My most recent Technology Feature, on the technology of genome synthesis, describes advances in the field of large-scale genome hacking. Researchers are rewriting the genomes of organisms from E. coli to yeast, with millions of bases written from scratch. Now, through projects like Genome Project-write, they are turning their attention to even more complex organisms, with concomitantly larger genomes.
How, though, does one actually write a genome? As I note in the article, researchers don’t do that in one step. The molecules are assembled hierarchically, from synthetic oligonucleotides to ever larger pieces, first in a test tube and ultimately in living cells.
That said, it is possible to purchase “gene-sized” pieces of synthetic DNA. But, since DNA today is synthesized mostly using the same error-prone phosphoramidite chemistry researchers have used for decades, the question is: how are those molecules made?
Say hello to Warp Drive Bio, stay tuned for details
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This new company, Warp Drive Bio, is being funded by Sanofi and Third Rock Ventures, a biocoastal venture capital firm with a big footprint in Kendall Square.
The only links on the Warp Drive Bio web page take you to emails for “careers’ and “contacts.” Here’s the description from the press release.
About Warp Drive Bio
Warp Drive Bio is driving the reemergence of natural products in the era of genomics to create breakthrough treatments that make an important difference in the lives of patients. Built upon the belief that nature is the world’s most powerful medicinal chemist, Warp Drive Bio is deploying a battery of state-of-the-art technologies to access powerful drugs that are now hidden within microbes. Key to the Warp Drive Bio approach is the comp
any’s proprietary “genomic search engine” and customized search queries that enable hidden natural products to be revealed on the basis of their distinctive genomic signature. Launched in 2011 through a groundbreaking strategic partnership with Sanofi and with financing from Third Rock Ventures and Greylock Partners, the company was founded by renowned scientist Dr. Gregory Verdine, along with Dr. George Church and Dr. James Wells.
Line here to the full press release and a here for a story from the Boston Business Journal.
Here’s a link Third Rock Ventures. If you get dizzy easily, you might want to skip the intro, which zooms into a Google-worldish maps of “Boston’ — mostly Cambridge, actually — and San Francisco. One of their Cambridge companies is currently involved in lawsuit over potential cancer cures. More on that here.