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Scientists at the University of Illinois say they have developed a new technique of genetic engineering for basic and applied biological research and medicine. Their work ("Programmable DNA-Guided Artificial Restriction Enzymes"), reported inACS Synthetic Biology,could open new doors in genomic research by improving the precision and adherence of sliced DNA, according to the investigators.

"Using our technology, we can create highly active artificial restriction enzymes with virtually any sequence specificity and defined sticky ends of varying length," said Huimin Zhao, Ph.,D., professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who leads a synthetic biology research group at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois. "This is a rare example in biotechnology where a desired biological function or reagent can be readily and precisely designed in a rational manner."

Restriction enzymes cut DNA at a specific site and create a space wherein foreign DNA can be introduced for gene-editing purposes. This process is not achieved only by naturally occurring restriction enzymes; artificial restriction enzymes, or AREs, have risen to prominence in recent years. CRISPR/Cas9, a bacterial immune system used for "cut-and-paste" gene editing, and TALENs, or transcription activator-like effector nucleases, which are modified restriction enzymes, are two popular examples of such techniques.

Though useful in genetic engineering, no AREs generate defined "sticky ends"an uneven break in the DNA ladder structure that leaves complementary overhangs, improving adhesion when introducing new DNA. "If you can cleave two different DNA samples with the same restriction enzyme, the sticky ends that are generated are complementary," explained graduate student Behnam Enghiad. "They will hybridize with each other, and if you use a ligase, you can stick them together."

However, restriction enzymes themselves have a critical drawback: the recognition sequence that prompts them to cut is very short, usually only four to eight base pairs. Because the enzymes will cut anywhere that sequence appears, researchers rely on finding a restriction enzyme whose cut site appears only once in the genome of their organism or plasmid, an often difficult proposition when the DNA at hand might be thousands of base pairs long.

This problem has been partially solved simply by the sheer number of restriction enzymes discovered: more than 3600 have been characterized, and over 250 are commercially available. "Just in our freezer, for our other research, we have probably over 100 different restriction enzymes," said Enghiad. "We look through them all whenever we want to assemble something. The chance of finding the unique restriction site is so low."

"Our new technology unifies all of those restriction enzymes into a single system consisting of one protein and two DNA guides. Not only have you replaced them, but you can now target sites that no available restriction enzymes can."

The new method creates AREs through the use of an Argonaute protein (PfAgo) taken fromPyrococcus furiosus, an archeal species. Led by a DNA guide, PfAgo is able to recognize much longer sequences when finding its cut site, increasing specificity and removing much of the obstacles posed by restriction enzymes. Furthermore, PfAgo can create longer sticky ends than even restriction enzymes, a substantial benefit as compared to other AREs.

"When we started, I was inspired by a paper about a related proteinTtAgo. It could use a DNA guide to cleave DNA, but only up to 70 degrees," continued Enghiad. "DNA strands start to separate over 75 degrees, which could allow a protein to create sticky ends. If there were a protein that was active at higher temperatures, I reasoned, that protein could be used as an artificial restriction enzyme. SoI started looking for that, and what I found was PfAgo."

In addition to replacing restriction enzymes in genetic engineering processes, Enghiad and Dr. Zhao believe their technology will have broad applications in the biological research. By creating arbitrary sticky ends, PfAgo could make assembly of large DNA molecules easier and would enable cloning of large DNA molecules, such as biochemical pathways and large genes.

The application of these techniques is broad-reaching, they say, ranging from discovery of new small-molecule drugs to engineering of microbial cell factories for synthesis of fuels and chemicals to molecular diagnostics of genetic diseases and pathogens, which are the areas Dr. Zhao and Enghiad are currently exploring.

"Due to its unprecedented simplicity and programmability (a single protein plus DNA guides for targeting), as well as accessibility...we expect PfAgo-based AREs will become a powerful and indispensable tool in all restriction enzyme or nuclease-enabled biotechnological applications and fundamental biological research," predicts Dr. Zhao. "It is to molecular biology as the CRISPR technology is to cell biology."

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Revolutionizing Biotechnology with Artificial Restriction Enzymes ... - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (press release)

How far can we go with DNA? The scientific community does not yet have the answer, as the potential of this molecule seems infinite. But to study the possibilities offered in this field, laboratories must still have enough material for researchers to continue their work.

However, for the past forty years, DNA has been manufactured by chemical synthesis. A particularly long and costly process, with an error rate that increases as the sequence lengthens.

In this context, researchers are looking to develop alternatives to synthesize DNA more easily, with more convincing results. Among the solutions considered, one that particularly appealed to the scientific community: enzymatic synthesis. This process, which is faster and more efficient, and for which it is no longer necessary to be a chemist, is now used for the production of medicines, perfumes, cosmetics and biofuels.

The synthetic DNA market is estimated at $1.5 billion, with a growth of 10% per year. The French start-up DNA Script is developing a printer based on genetically modified enzymes to generate a personalized DNA sequence in a few hours. To make synthetic DNA a lever for predictive medicine, but not only, the company raised 11 million in September 2017. And also, an additional 35 million in May.

Founded in 2014 by Thomas Ybert, Sylvain Gariel and Xavier Godron, DNA Script has developed a printer capable of synthesizing high-quality DNA to foster innovation in science and technology. Through this technology, DNA Script intends to give a second wind to the writing of genetic codes.

The new process developed by the company makes it possible to produce better quality and longer DNA molecules. This process is donde in a much shorter time frame than usual production methods. And provides an opportunity for researchers in molecular biology to accelerate their experiments to achieve faster results.

These advances should eventually make it possible to develop new therapeutic products, such as medicines or vaccines. But also to move towards more ecological production of chemicals or to propose a new way of storing data.

DNA Scripts printer could even take on a new dimension with Crispr-Cas9. A genome transformation technique that allows DNA modification by targeting a gene with unparalleled accuracy. To understand better, FrenchWeb went to meet Xavier Godron and Sylvain Gariel. Two of the three founders of the French start-up, in their laboratory at the Kremlin-Bictre, south of Paris.

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How synthetic DNA is revolutionizing research in biotechnology - Born2Invest

BOSTON, Oct. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --908 Devices, a pioneer of purpose-built handheld and desktop Mass Spec devices for chemical and biomolecular analysis, today announced the appointment of Kevin Hrusovsky as the Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mr. Hrusovsky, who has served on the 908 Devices Board of Directors since 2013, is a biotech entrepreneur and healthcare visionary with a passion for revolutionizing healthcare and a proven track record of commercializing disruptive technologies.

"Our devices are used by our customers who need answers quickly, at the point-of-need to interrogate the unknown-and-invisible and provide actionable answers to address some of the most critical problems in life sciences research, bioprocessing, industrial biotech, and forensics." said Dr. Kevin J. Knopp, CEO and Co-Founder of 908 Devices. "Kevin Hrusovsky's deep knowledge and experience are incredibly additive as we democratize laboratory Mass Spectrometry instruments with our simple handheld and desktop devices."

"There has never been a more important time in science to harness advanced analytical tools," said Mr. Hrusovsky. "I'm honored to be named Chairman and committed to supporting technologies that accelerate outcomes and disrupt healthcare. Kevin Knopp and the 908 Devices team are democratizing Mass Spectrometry at an important inflection point for next generation Proteomics and its promise to revolutionize healthcare."

Kevin Hrusovsky currently serves as the Chairman, CEO and President of Quanterix (NASDAQ: QTRX), a company digitizing biomarker analysis to advance precision health. He is also the founder of Powering Precision Health (PPH) foundation, a non-profit global think tank composed of the industry's top medical, research and financial experts. Through his non-profit network and the power of Quanterix's disruptive Simoa technology, Mr. Hrusovsky is accelerating critical advances across neurology, oncology, infectious disease, cardiology, and inflammation.

A dynamic and respected thought leader, Hrusovsky is regularly sought after by mainstream media, including CBS, NBC, CNN, and other major news outlets to speak on the promise of precision health todiagnose diseases before symptoms even occur. Most recently, Mr. Hrusovsky spearheaded a newly formed Emergency COVID-19 Diagnostic & Drug PPH Advisory Panel that aims to enhance global understanding of COVID-19, including the innate and adaptive immune response to drive earlier intervention in the disease cascade, deliver more targeted therapeutic responses, and accelerate development of emerging drugs and vaccines.

About 908 DevicesWe make point-of-need-devices ranging from rugged, handheld chemical detection tools to compact, tiny footprint desktop analyzers. These uncomplicated purpose-built devices provide users with the power to redefine their workflows by getting actionable answers at the point of need. Our devices are being used for critical applications across the globe in life science research, bioprocessing, industrial biotech, forensics and adjacent markets. 908 Devices is headquartered in the heart ofBoston, where we research, design and manufacture innovative products that bring togetherhigh-pressure mass spectrometry(HPMS), microfluidic separations, software automation, and machine learning. For more information, visitwww.908devices.com.

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908 Devices Names Kevin Hrusovsky, 30-year Biotechnology Veteran and Founder of Powering Precision Health, as Chairman of its Board of Directors -...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cyrus Biotechnology, Inc., and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have embarked on a scientific collaboration to optimize CRISPR for use in developing novel human therapeutics.

CRISPR allows for the highly specific and rapid modification of DNA in a genome, which can dramatically accelerate the drug discovery process.

Feng Zhang will be the principal investigator for the Broad for the collaboration. He is also an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Together, researchers from Cyrus and Broad will work together to mitigate the possibility of the body mounting an immune response against CRISPR. The teams are committed to making the results of their collaboration broadly available for research to help ensure that therapeutic development bringing this technology to the clinic has the best chance of success, while also considering important ethical and safety concerns. The teams have also committed to publishing their results in peer reviewed journals and to make this work freely available to the non-profit and academic scientific community.

Issi Rozen, chief business officer at the Broad Institute, said, Broad researchers and their collaborators have pioneered the development and sharing of new genome editing tools, such as CRISPR-Cas9, which are revolutionizing and accelerating nearly every aspect of disease research and drug discovery around the world. With this collaboration, scientists will continue to improve the technology towards new tools and therapeutics, important to benefiting patients in the long term.

Cyrus CEO Dr. Lucas Nivn added, We have validated our computational deimmunization platform in a variety of systems, and now seek to apply it where it can make a major impact. Given the extensive therapeutic possibilities of CRISPR systems, and the leading position the Broad Institute and Dr. Zhang hold, we are very excited to work in partnership with them to make these molecules more amenable for use in humans with maximal efficacy and minimal side effects.

Cyrus provides commercial and partnered access to Rosetta, which is the worlds leading protein modeling and design software platform. Rosetta has been used to direct the computational design of multiple biologic molecules that have advanced to both pre-clinical and clinical development. Among these are drugs being developed by companies including PVP Biologics, Tocagen, Lyell and others.

About Cyrus Biotechnology

Cyrus Biotechnology, Inc. is a privately-held Seattle-based biotechnology software company offering software and partnerships for protein engineering to accelerate discovery of biologics and small molecules for the Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Consumer Products and Synthetic Biology industries. Cyrus methods are based on the Rosetta software from Prof. David Bakers laboratory at the University of Washington and HHMI, the most powerful protein engineering software available. Cyrus customers include 13 of the top 20 Global Pharmaceutical firms and is financed by leading investors in both Technology and Biotechnology, including Trinity Ventures, Orbimed, Springrock Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and W Fund.

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Cyrus Biotechnology and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Launch Multi-Target Collaboration to Develop Optimized CRISPR Gene Editing Technology -...

LAS VEGAS, August 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The healthcare sector is made up of several different industries, from pharmaceuticals to biotechnology to health insurance. Making predictions in this sector can be difficult as there are many variables working with and against each other at one time. It's important to track both negative and positive trends in healthcare companies. Investors who track these trends, make the best out of their predictions.

Certain trends in healthcare an investor should track include: the aging population and their healthcare needs, personalized medicine, the global reach of certain diseases, obesity and diabetes epidemic, and of course, technological advances. All of these trends mean different things in healthcare stock. Biotech companies are working tirelessly to address specific trends in human health, identifying the companies who are working with healthcare trends is key.

Some such companies include: Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC: ENDV), Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JUNO), Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: EBIO), Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA), and TherapeuticsMD, Inc. (NYSE: TXMD)

Endonovo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: ENDV)

Market Cap: $7.3M, current share price: .028

ENDV is an innovative biotechnology company implementing a bioelectronic approach to regenerative medicine. They are addressing several healthcare trends with their electroceutical platform, which is a non-invasive, non-implantable device for treating inflammatory conditions in vital organs. Through the innovative research at ENDV, they are addressing most of the major healthcare trends by developing therapies to treat the aging population and addressing obesity and the complications that it entails, such as peripheral artery disease, heart disease, diabetic kidney disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Additionally, ENDV is working to address global diseases, kidney disease, and organ failure.

Tracking ENDV and their work in research and development (R&D) is something anyone interested in healthcare or biotech stocks should do. As their research correlates and ebbs and flows with healthcare trends. Some highlights regarding ENDV's R&D are below:

As ENDV moves forward and inches closer to announcing the results of their pre-clinical studies across their diverse technology platform, you'll want to stay up-to-date with their successes.

Other healthcare and biotech companies to review

Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (JUNO)

Market Cap: $3.021B, current share price: 28.30

JUNO, a clinical-stage cell immunotherapy company focused on revolutionizing medicine by re-engaging the body's immune system to treat cancer, has achieved recent milestones with its collaboration with Editas Medicine, Inc. (EDIT) This collaboration began over two years ago, the two companies are pursuing three research programs that aim to combine Editas Medicine's genome editing platform with Juno's CAR and TCR technologies.

Their most recent achievement relates to the improvement in the ability of T cells to overcome the tumor microenvironment. Editas Medicine will receive $2.5 million for achieving this milestone.

Eleven Biotherapeutics, Inc. (EBIO)

Market Cap: $35.2M, current share price: 1.425

EBIO is a late-stage clinical oncology company advancing a broad pipeline of novel product candidates based on its Targeting Protein Therapeutics (TPTs) platform. They announced this week that they'll be hosting a live conference call to announce their Q2 financial results.

This is scheduled for 8:00 a.m. ET on Monday, August 14, 2017. To access the conference call, please dial (844) 831-3025 (domestic) or (315) 625-6887 (international) at least five minutes prior to the start time and refer to conference ID 63779857.

Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (GNCA)

Market Cap: $112.74M, current share price: 3.955

Similarly to JUNO and EDITS collaboration on moving research forward regarding T cells, GNCA's lead candidate is a novel T cell-directed immunotherapy for genital herpes. Today marks a horrible day for GNCA's performance on the stock market. GNCA's shares closed down 7.42% on Thursday with a little over 600,000 shares traded. The company reported second quarter financial results this week and reported a loss of $15.4 million.

On a per share basis, this was a loss of 54 cents while Wall Street was only expecting a loss of 46 cents. Keep a lookout for this stock as its performance is expected to continue to plummet.

TherapeuticsMD, Inc. (TXMD)

Market Cap: $1.15B, current share price: 5.630

TXMD, an innovative women's healthcare company, just received a formal General Advice Letter from the FDA stating that an initial review has been completed and requesting that the Company submit the additional endometrial safety information to the NDA for TX-004HR on or before September 18, 2017.

This is great news for TXMD although they've been ranked negatively in the HealthCare Sector. Investors who seek profit from falling equity prices should target TXMD. Short interest is extremely high for TXMD with more than 20% of shares on loan.

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Tracking Trends in Biotechnology - Markets Insider