Lexington, KY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/12/2014 --Altering the genome with targeted nucleases is powerful and increasingly necessary for research and drug discovery. The CRISPR-Cas9 system has gained popularity due to its simplicity and high efficiency. While the original CRISPR technology is not owned or commercialized by any one company but many companies including Transposagen, it has been plagued by problems with off-target mutations, a concern for research and drug discovery applications as it may compromise results.

The NextGEN™ CRISPR technology, developed by a member of Transposagen’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), is the first truly dimeric RNA-guided FokI nuclease. NextGEN™ CRISPR technology has all the advantages of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, but has eliminated the problems with off-site targeting. The NextGenTM CRISPR technology has also removed some of the design restrictions associated with the original system, thereby greatly increasing the number of sites that can be targeted. The NextGenTM CRISPR technology was described in an online publication in Nature Biotechnology released today entitled, “Dimeric CRISPR RNA-guided FokI Nucleases for Efficient Genome Editing.”1

The NextGEN™ CRISPR genome engineering tools and services provided by Transposagen are ideal when research and drug discovery applications require clean, high-precision genome editing. NextGEN™ CRISPR technology can be combined with Transposagen’s Footprint-Free™ Gene Editing systems, the only commercially available method capable of editing as little as a single nucleotide in nearly any genome without any unwanted mutations and with the ability to select for rare events.

About Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., is a worldwide leader in technologies and services for genetic modification. Transposagen specializes in Footprint-Free™ Gene Editing, NextGEN™ CRISPR, XTN™ TALEN site-specific nucleases, animal models, cell lines, stem cells and cutting-edge research tools and technologies to improve drug discovery and development research.