BHU scientist’s innovation on DNA modification licensed by American therapeutic company

NEW DELHI: An innovation by Banaras Hindu University (BHU) scientist, Akhilesh Kumar, on DNA manipulation has been licensed by an American therapeutic company. Kumar has developed an easy method to determine the efficiency of guide-RNA for CRISPR-Cas9 based genome editing. The recent nonexclusive licensing by the genetic medicine company, NeuBase Therapeutics, has listed Kumar’s name as a contributor in the license agreement.

DNA manipulation or genome editing is required in many fields such as in therapeutics, crop improvement and fundamental research. CRISPR-Cas9 is a recently developed genome editing technology which has “revolutionized” the genome editing scenario with its efficiency, precision, ease of use and low cost, said an official statement from BHU.

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While several guide-RNAs can be used to target a particular gene, it cannot be accurately predicted which guide-RNA will work best. Kumar who is an assistant professor at the department of botany, institute of science has developed the technology while working as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Fangliang Zhang at the University of Miami, Florida, United States.

The method uses an inactive fluorescent protein which can be reactivated by Cas9 enzyme and guide-RNA mediated DNA editing. The efficiency of various guide-RNAs was examined by reactivation frequency of fluorescent protein which was monitored by flow cytometry. Owing to the potential and usefulness of this method in genome editing, NeuBase Therapeutics has now licensed the method.

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Kumar said that CRISPR-Cas9 is one of the most celebrated innovations in modern biology. "Because of its robustness and precision, this is the first choice of researchers for genome editing and the technology is already being used for crop and human health improvement," BHU statement further said.