MilliporeSigma Receives its First CRISPR Patent

On June 14, 2017 MilliporeSigma announced that the company has been granted patent rights relating to the use of CRISPR in a genomic integration method for eukaryotic cells, by the Australian Patent Office. This is the company’s first patent related to CRISPR.

In May 2017, MilliporeSigma announced that it had developed an alternative CRISPR genome-editing method called proxy-CRISPR. The company’s proxy-CRISPR technique can cut previously unreachable cell locations, making CRISPR more efficient, flexible, and specific, and giving researchers more experimental options. MilliporeSigma has filed several patent applications on its proxy-CRISPR technology, the company said in a press announcement.

With MilliporeSigma’s CRISPR genomic integration technology, scientists can replace a disease-associated mutation with a beneficial or functional sequence, a method important for creation of disease models and gene therapy. Additionally, scientists can use the method to insert transgenes that label endogenous proteins for visual tracking within cells.