CRISPR has revolutionised gene editing due to its easy implementation, affordability and versatility. However, one significant and universal challenge remains - DNA repair is fickle and results in a wide range of editing outcomes. This inaccurate editing results in genetic mosaicism - multiple cell populations with different genetic backgrounds and phenotypes.
Mosaicism is a production inefficiency problem and has a profoundly negative impact on all CRISPR applications. For example, ex vivo edited cells must be sub-cloned and expanded to create a pure population, significantly increasing the costs of autologous therapies. Transgenic animals must be back-crossed over multiple generations, requiring one year on average to produce new disease. In vivo gene therapies are similarly hampered by mosaicism, which could lead to undesirable and harmful editing outcomes that reduce both the safety and efficacy of CRISPR therapeutics.
Zygosity’s proprietary platform eliminates mosaicism, reducing the time and costs of experiments by orders of magnitude and enabling broader adoption of in vivo and ex vivo CRISPR therapeutic applications including next generation CAR-T cell therapies.
Zygosity is a spin out from Cancer Research UK and the University of Cambridge. In addition to spinning out the company, Start Codon also invested in it alongside co-investor, Cancer Research Technology Limited.