Multi-partner project to automate microfluidic systems for gene editing

Synthetic biology company Oxford Genetics and biotech company Sphere Fluidics has announced a multi-partner collaboration to accelerate the development of automated microfluidic systems for gene editing cell lines.

The collaboration will see Sphere Fluidics produce new products to meet the requirements of multiplexed gene editing workflows. Oxford Genetics and the University of Edinburgh will offer their expertise into industrial and application requirements, both for standard engineering approaches and for more difficult host systems, such as stem cells and primary cell lines, and in discovery contexts. Another partner to the project, Twist Bioscience, will help with DNA synthesis and required reagents.

The project is part of Oxford Genetics’ on-going commitment to automating laboratory processes.

Tom Payne, CSO at Oxford Genetics said: “Gene editing, particularly CRISPR technologies, have revolutionised the way scientists are able to engineer mammalian cells for a wide-variety of applications. While these technologies are highly efficient, there is a requirement to further optimise the way laboratories deliver the CRISPR tools to cells and interrogate the resultant products. By increasing throughput and reducing timelines in this area, this creates new avenues of research and commercial applications, from our ability to address complex genetics in basic biology to utilising big data to facilitate personalised medicine.”

“We are very pleased to join forces with a company of the calibre of Oxford Genetics. They bring excellent expertise in cell biology, gene editing and workflow automation. We plan to develop a desktop system that will miniaturise and automate the genome editing of single cells. Such a product is highly innovative and will be disruptive in that sector. This system will enable scientists to easily perform automated genome editing and create new cell lines and valuable biomedical products,” said Frank F. Craig, CEO at Sphere Fluidics.

“This multi-partner collaboration brings together the incredible expertise of different organisations to fuel important and cutting-edge responsible research in the field of gene editing,” commented Emily M. Leproust, CEO of Twist Bioscience. “CRISPR holds tremendous promise to truly improve health and eliminate disease, and we are thrilled to support the scaling of these combined technologies to work toward improved health worldwide.”