First Canadian patent secured for UC Berkeley CRISPR patents

January 5, 2023 |

In Canada, ERS Genomics announced that its first Canadian patent, CA 2872241, with broad claims to compositions and methods of using CRISPR/Cas9 in humans, animals, plants, and microbes has been granted to the CVC group. CVC stands for University of California, University of Vienna, and Emmanuelle Charpentier and is the acronym used to describe the owners of what are commonly referred to as the UC Berkeley CRISPR patents. ERS, co-founded by Nobel Laureate Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, provides access to a broad portfolio of over 80 foundational CRISPR/Cas9 patents worldwide.

The Canadian patent, which formally issued in December, includes claims to compositions and methods of using a CRISPR/Cas9 complex to bind DNA as well as various formats for delivering these complexes into cells of all types.  This broad patent also claims the use of a CRISPR/Cas9 complex to cleave DNA (resulting in knock-outs, insertions or mutations) as well as use of mutated forms of Cas9 to ‘nick’ DNA (in place of cleavage, in one form) or simply for binding to a specific DNA sequence without cleaving or nicking, which enables numerous other gene editing applications such as prime editing and base editing.

Category: Research

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