Twelfth CRISPR patent awarded to UC team
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today (Tuesday, Sept. 3) awarded a new CRISPR-Cas9 patent to the University of California (UC), University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, bringing the team’s CRISPR patent portfolio to 12.
The new patent (U.S. 10,400,253) covers compositions of single-molecule, DNA-targeting RNA (single-guide RNA, or sgRNA) and a Cas9 protein or nucleic acid encoding the Cas9 protein.
The USPTO has allowed the claims of five other applications that are expected to issue as patents in the coming months, one of them — covering sgRNAs or DNA molecules encoding sgRNAs — on Sept. 10.
Altogether, the university will hold 17 patents covering compositions and methods of targeting and editing genes in any setting, such as within plant, animal and human cells, as well as methods to modulate transcription.
