Cellecta, Inc. Launches a Single-Module 80K Human Genome-Wide CRISPR Knockout Library

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Dec. 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Cellecta, Inc. today announced the release of its new pooled single-module CRISPR Human Genome-Wide 80K Knockout Library. This new CRISPR library, with 4 guide RNAs (sgRNA) per gene, is half the size of Cellecta's current three-module CRISPR 150K Human Genome-Wide Knockout Library. The reduced library size enables studies of how cells respond to the disruption of each gene across the entire human genome in a single screening experiment. Gene disruption screens aid in the identification of genetic elements that are functionally important in biological responses, and are instrumental to the discovery of new therapeutic targets.

Cellecta's CRISPR Human Genome 80K Knockout Library makes use of the recently published design rules for sgRNA gene targeting as described by Doench, et al.¹ In addition, the new 80K library incorporates Cellecta's more effective HEAT² sgRNA structure rather than the standard sgRNA design. The HEAT sgRNA structure significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratios in pooled screens by increasing the knockout efficiency of the guide RNA. Finally, the sgRNAs in this library have been filtered to ensure they are unique for each gene target, thus minimizing false positive results.

"Since Cellecta's start, nine years ago, our focus has been to create robust assay technologies that enable genome-wide functional analysis without requiring specialized equipment or infrastructure," said Donato Tedesco, Ph.D., Cellecta Director of R&D. "As a tool, CRISPR offers tremendous promise for these applications. However, as a relatively new technology, continuous improvements occur rapidly. To ensure that functional genomics investigators and disease researchers have easy access to state-of-the-art screening technologies, we constantly improve our CRISPR-based libraries and related research tools based on the latest published and internal work," he concluded.

As with all its custom and pre-made library offerings, Cellecta includes full information and QC data, including:

• representation levels of each sgRNA construct in the library, as determined by next-generation sequencing (NGS)
• complete and confirmed sequence information of each sgRNA construct
• sgRNA sequence mutation rateas determined by NGS

Materials supplied include:

• 200 µg of plasmid library (enough for packaging of  more than 2x10⁹ lentiviral particles)
• option to purchase library as pre-packaged lentiviral particles

To complement the CRISPR Human Genome 80K Knockout Library, Cellecta also provides pooled genome-wide shRNA knockdown libraries for investigators who want to gain deeper insights obtainable from parallel use of both technologies for functional genomics screens.

Cellecta's pooled single-module CRISPR Human Genome 80K Knockout Library is available now. For more information, please visit https://www.cellecta.com/human-crispr-80k

¹ Nat Biotechnol. 34, Feb 2016, 184-91.

² For more information on the improved HEAT design, please visit https://www.cellecta.com/improved-sgrna-design

About Cellecta:
Cellecta, Inc. is the first commercial provider of a lentiviral-based CRISPR library targeting all 19,000+ human protein-coding genes. Cellecta is an industry leader in RNAi and CRISPR technologies for the discovery and characterization of novel therapeutic targets, and genetic profiling for biomarker discovery. Numerous scientific papers have been published citing Cellecta's functional genomics portfolio offering gene knockout and knockdown screens, custom and genome-wide RNAi and CRISPR libraries, cell engineering, RNAi and CRISPR construct services, and targeted expression profiling and biomarker discovery in disease samples.

Cellecta, Inc. is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Further information about the company and its functional genomic products and services may be found online at www.cellecta.com

Cellecta, Inc. 
Paul Diehl, 650-938-4050 
[email protected]

or

Media: 
Ruth Mercado, 650-938-4080 
[email protected]

SOURCE Cellecta, Inc.