Dublin-based ERS Genomics has entered a non-exclusive license agreement with industrial fermentation company Evolva that will allow Evolva to gain access to the breadth of ERS’s patents related to CRISPR-Cas9 technology. ERS Genomics was founded around the intellectual property of Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, one of the co-discoverers and co-inventors of the CRISPR mechanism of genome engineering. The ERS patents will fortify Evolva’s toolbox for engineering organisms to produce specialty chemicals in the food, flavor, nutrition, health, and other industries.Eric Rhodes, CEO of ERS Genomics, spoke positively about adding of Evolva to the collection of collaborators licensing his company’s intellectual property. “Genome editing has many applications beyond drug discovery and development and making the CRISPR-Cas9 patents available to industrial biotechnology leaders such as Evolva is a growing and important part of our business. We are thus very pleased to include them in our expanding portfolio of licensees,” he said.Evolva CEO Neil Goldsmith said “By combining modern genetics with traditional brewing, Evolva tries to overcome some of the challenges in producing natural ingredients for commercial use. Evolva uses proprietary technologies and is committed to gain access to complementary platforms that allow us to enhance the properties of the ingredients we produce, as well as their economics.”CRISPR in actionFor organisms with well-studied genomes, such as the microbes used in Evolva’s industrial fermentation schemes, CRISPR offers an efficient and precise alternative to traditional genetic engineering techniques. It is an extremely flexible technology, enabling the manipulation of not only prokaryotic cells (such as bacteria) but also eukaryotic cells (such as yeast or fungi), the latter of which are the targets of Evolva’s engineering efforts.Not surprisingly, CRISPR has served as the basis for a growing number of startups that are using the technology to tackle bioengineering from all angles. Some examples include Eligo Bioscience, who is harnessing CRISPR to engineer the gut microbiome, and Intellia Therapeutics, who are applying CRISPR to develop cancer treatments.Other startups are dedicated to the delivery, design, and implementation of CRISPR technology itself. One such company is Synthego, who just released the first-ever kit for conducting CRISPR assays. Another, Desktop Genetics, is dedicated to providing a software platform for researchers in industry and academia to plan and design their own CRISPR genome editing experiments.However, perhaps the most well-known company names in the CRISPR sphere are those that are currently tangled in a bitter patent war over the foundational CRISPR intellectual property: Caribou Biosciences, CRISPR Therapeutics, and Editas Medicine.

Emmanuelle Charpentier, founder of ERS Genomics and CRISPR TherapeuticsThe battle for CRISPRConsidering the unprecedented bioengineering power that CRISPR packs, it is little wonder that the parents surrounding the technology are a hot commodity. Right now, a heated battle for those patents is underway between several parties.One side is represented by Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier of ERS Genomics and Dr. Jennifer Doudna of Caribou Biosciences. In addition to being the source of ERS’s portfolio of intellectual property, Dr. Charpentier is also the co-founder of CRISPR Therapeutics, a company that is using CRISPR to develop treatments for disorders of the blood, liver, and other organs. Earlier this month, CRISPR Therapeutics conducted its initial public offering and is now trading on the NASDAQ Global Market. The other side of the battle is represented by Dr. Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard. Zhang co-founded Editas Medicine, another therapeutics company that has stake in the suite of CRISPR patents. Each party claims that they were the first to harness the naturally-occurring CRISPR mechanism for genome editing purposes. A patent-interference hearing is currently underway to determine the true owner of the intellectual property. Whoever emerges as the patent holder will bring an enormous economic advantage to their own institutions and associated companies. As the number of laboratories and companies dispatching CRISPR technology—such as Evolva—continues to grow at an exponential rate, the stakes of the dispute are getting higher all the time.The synthetic biology community eagerly sits in waiting not only to learn of the new and exciting things companies like Evolva will achieve with the power of CRISPR, but also the outcome of the patent dispute over one of the most impactful technologies of our time.