Mammoth Biosciences

Last updated
Mammoth Biosciences
Company typePrivate
IndustryBiotechnology
Founded2017
FounderJennifer Doudna, Trevor Martin, Janice Chen, Lucas Harrington
HeadquartersBrisbane, California, United States
Website https://mammoth.bio

Mammoth Biosciences is a biotechnology company based in Brisbane, California [1] developing diagnostic tests using CRISPR-Cas12a and CRISPR-based therapies using its proprietary ultra-small CRISPR systems. Several CRISPR-Cas systems identified through the company's metagenomics-based protein discovery platform, including members of the Casφ and Cas14 families of CRISPR-associated enzymes, have demonstrated potential for therapeutic genome editing in in vivo settings. [2]

Contents

History

The company was founded in 2017 [3] by Jennifer Doudna, Janice Chen, and Lucas Harrington of the University of California, Berkeley, and Trevor Martin of Stanford University. [4] Mammoth signed agreements in December 2019 and January 2020 with Horizon Discovery to combine Mammoth's intellectual property in CRISPR with Horizon's expertise in Chinese hamster ovary cells. [5] Also in 2020, both Mammoth Biosciences and Sherlock Biosciences from the Broad Institute used their similar CRISPR technologies to develop tests for COVID-19. [6] The technology, which is owned under the trademark of DETECTR BOOST, has been contracted to be manufactured by Merck & Co. [7]

In 2023, the company announced that it will focus on developing CRISPR-based therapies. [8] The company's platform uses "ultra-small" Cas enzymes, such as CasΦ and Cas14,  which measure down to a third or less the size of Cas9, and which could allow for easier delivery in vivo through commonly used non-viral and viral delivery mechanisms, including adeno-associated virus vectors. [9] [10] Compared to Cas9, CasΦ and Cas14 may also offer less restrictive protospacer adjacent motif requirements, advantageous off-target activity, and allele-specific editing capabilities, which could broaden the range of targetable diseases in the genome. [10] [9] Mammoth previously announced partnerships with Vertex Pharmaceuticals (2021) and Bayer (2022) to research ultra-small CRISPR systems for in vivo editing. [11] [12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Fannin, Rebecca (2022-03-12). "The 30-year-old female founder at the forefront of a billion-dollar bet on CRISPR gene editing". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  2. ↑ "News: Miniscule Cas nucleases do a Mammoth's job". CRISPR Medicine. Retrieved 2023-11-10.
  3. ↑ "Mammoth Biosciences". Craft.co. Archived from the original on 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  4. ↑ Isaacson, Walter (2021). The Code Breaker. Simon & Schuster. pp. 422–423. ISBN   978-1-9821-1585-2.
  5. ↑ "Horizon Discovery, Mammoth Biosciences Sign Second CRISPR Tools Development Agreement". Genomeweb. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
  6. ↑ Isaacson, Walter (2021). The Code Breaker. Simon & Schuster. pp. 427–433. ISBN   978-1-9821-1585-2.
  7. ↑ Mcardle, Matthew (May 17, 2021), Increasing SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity with CRISPR-based rapid testing, SelectScience, retrieved September 9, 2021
  8. ↑ "CRISPR unicorn Mammoth backs off diagnostics research, laying off 35 on testing team to focus on therapeutics". Endpoints News. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  9. 1 2 Harrington, Lucas B.; Burstein, David; Chen, Janice S.; Paez-Espino, David; Ma, Enbo; Witte, Isaac P.; Cofsky, Joshua C.; Kyrpides, Nikos C.; Banfield, Jillian F.; Doudna, Jennifer A. (2018-11-16). "Programmed DNA destruction by miniature CRISPR-Cas14 enzymes". Science. 362 (6416): 839–842. Bibcode:2018Sci...362..839H. doi:10.1126/science.aav4294. ISSN   0036-8075. PMC   6659742 . PMID   30337455.
  10. 1 2 Pausch, Patrick; Al-Shayeb, Basem; Bisom-Rapp, Ezra; Tsuchida, Connor A.; Li, Zheng; Cress, Brady F.; Knott, Gavin J.; Jacobsen, Steven E.; Banfield, Jillian F.; Doudna, Jennifer A. (2020-07-17). "CRISPR-CasΦ from huge phages is a hypercompact genome editor". Science. 369 (6501): 333–337. Bibcode:2020Sci...369..333P. doi:10.1126/science.abb1400. ISSN   0036-8075. PMC   8207990 . PMID   32675376.
  11. ↑ Hart, Robert. "Mammoth Biosciences Inks $691 Million Deal With Vertex For Crispr Gene-Editing Therapies". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-09-19.
  12. ↑ Burger, Ludwig; Weiss, Patricia (2022-01-10). "Bayer in gene therapy collaboration with Mammoth Biosciences". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-09-19.


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