Are you looking for a simple means to boost the efficiency of gene editing and also to reduce the off-target? Yes, it does exist – in one word: 4-hydroxy Tamoxifen. That’s the HIT-CAS9.

Hybrid drug inducible CRISPR/Cas9 technology, HIT-Cas9

Zhao et al revealed tight and effective drug control of the CRISPR Cas9 based on 4-Hydroxytamoxifen. doi: 10.1016/j.omtn.2018.08.022

They built a fusion between a mutated human estrogen receptor (ERT2) and the Cas9 endonucelase, which makes the CRISPR Cas9 dependent on 4-hydroxytamoxifen.

Optimal knock-down can be done by a shRNA sequence that depends on the gene expression level and the cell type. Usually, 4 shRNA should be tested to find the one inducing a minimum of 70% increase of the targeted mRNA pool. Genecopoeia has developped shRNA expression vectors with improved performances.

Gemma N. Jones et al has recently published in the British Journal of Cancer an article revealing pRAD50 (Ser635) as a pharmacodynamic biomarker of ATM (AZD0156) and ATR inhibitors (AZD6738) to treat cancers. doi:10.1038/s41416-018-0286-4

Key sensors of DNA damage such as ATM and ATR are targets of choice for drug discovery. A useful screening method is based on synthetic lethality. The pre-screening can be done on convenient HeLa cells.

Recombinant protein production and protein purification raises the tricky question of host cell proteins (HCPs). To monitor the purification level of your protein of interest, the HCPs must be quantified. Of course, the quality and the optimisation of purification depends upon it. Here, we’ll take a look at an alternative to the gold standard, offering a way to detect more HCPs present in the production. So, are you ready for higher grade detection?