Synthego Launches iPSC Engineering
Synthego, the leading genome engineering company, announced the launch of genome engineering for induced pluripotent stem cells. This expands Synthego’s automated cell editing to achieve unparalleled editing efficiency of iPS cells at an industrial scale.
The leading genome company simultaneously announced the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had awarded Synthego a contract to create mutations in a variety of genetic backgrounds to study Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD).
Synthego also announced the joining of Dr. Bill Skarnes, a pioneer in stem cell research, to the company’s advisory board.
Synthego Launches iPSC Engineering- What are iPSCs?
Induced Pluripotent Stem cells are reprogrammed human adult cells reverted to a stem cell state. iPSCs can provide one of the most reliable and accurate models for disease due to the ability to create patient-specific variations. Though it has traditionally been challenging to handle and modify genetically. A fundamental challenge in research and clinical development is the lack of high-quality, physiologically relevant biological models for translational medicine.
By resolving these challenges, researchers gain access to developing models for millions of disorders ranging from inherited conditions such as Cystic Fibrosis (CF) to neurodegenerative diseases such
as Alzheimer’s, and even organ-specific ocular diseases.Synthego’s proprietary cell editing platform removes the difficulty of editing, cloning, and maintaining high pluripotency in clinically-relevant iPS cells, with editing rates as high as 90% before cloning and 100% in clones. The new offering of iPS cells includes modification by removal of gene function (knockout), single nucleotide variation, protein tagging, and other knocking, enabling scientists to generate edits at a massive scale to accelerate research and disease modeling.
Synthego Launches iPSC Engineering- Other Announcements By Synthego
Synthego also announced it had been selected as one of NIH’s partners for a multi-million dollar effort to understand neurodegenerative diseases better. Synthego’s genome-edited iPS cells will introduce mutations relating to ADRD. These edited cells will then be characterized functionally by NIA researchers to understand these insidious diseases better and identify new ways to treat them.
Paul Dabrowski, CEO, and co-founder of Synthego, said that they are honored to selected by NIH. Additionally, he highlighted that getting Dr. Bill Skarnes, as the team advisor, is a testament to Synthego’s mission to make genome engineering more accessible to scientists as well as millions of people in need of a new generation of medicines.
