Artisitic recreation of the DNA. Licence: CC0 Public Domain.The CSIC, the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), BioPraxis Research AIE (BioPraxis), the Ramon Llull Foundation for Health Research of the Balearic Islands (FISIB), and the University of Barcelona (UB) have developed a new generation of genome engineering molecular tools that could be applied for designing new therapies for diseases with a genetic component.
This new tool consists of a new type of Transcription Activator-like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) that makes the modification of genetic material more effective. The invention has been protected through a patent application and has been licensed to Praxis Pharmaceutical, which will use the technology to develop advanced genomic repair therapies for infectious diseases such as AIDS and hereditary diseases such as Sanfilippo syndrome.
In turn, Praxis Pharmaceutical has sublicensed the technology to the spin-off Karuna GoodCells Technologies SL, so that it can market the tool for its use in research as well as in clinical practice.
The team of inventors behind this patent is formed by the researcher Daniel Bachiller, from the CSIC, the professor José Luis Pedraz, from the UPV/EHU, the doctors Eusebio Gainza, Garazi Gainza and Ángel del Pozo, from Biopraxis, Víctor Gálvez, from the FISIB, and the professor Miquel Viñas, from the UB.
The Deputy Vice-Chair for Knowledge Transfer (VATC) of the CSIC, the OTRI of the UPV / EHU and the Innovation and Research Results Transfer Unit of the Health Research Foundation of the Balearic Islands, and the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation (FBG) of the UB have provided advice for the creation of the spin-off and took part in the negotiations of the different licensing contracts.