Collaboration forms for co-development and application of CRISPR screening platform

A collaboration has been announced between gene editing and gene modulation tech company, Horizon Discovery, and a global pharma partner for the co-development and application of a novel CRISPR-based screening technology platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, Horizon will lead the development and application of single cell RNAseq-linked pooled CRISPR screening using a key discovery paradigm of the pharmaceutical partner.Additionally, Horizon will use the development process, acquired infrastructure, and optimization data in order to further develop and improve these tools to offer to future partners, as part of its research services operations.

“Pooled CRISPR-Cas9 knockout screens have rapidly become an important tool in novel drug target identification and validation. Horizon continues to innovate in this important area, having launched our CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) and CRISPR activation (CRISPRa) screening service in 2017, and through the development of RNAseq-linked CRISPR screening,” commented Terry Pizzie, chief executive officer, Horizon Discovery. “The co-development of this tool with a major pharma partner provides a substantive advance to Horizon’s already world-leading screening capabilities, offering our customers cutting-edge solutions not available elsewhere.”