New England Biolabs® and Mammoth Biosciences® Announce Global Licensing Agreement and Commercial Launch of MB-CasFire™ to Accelerate Isothermal Amplification-Based Assay Development

NEB will manufacture and globally distribute Mammoth Biosciences' proprietary CRISPR enzyme, equipping developers with a "one-pot" solution for highly-specific detection in LAMP, RPA and NEAR assays

IPSWICH, Mass., Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- New England Biolabs (NEB®) and Mammoth Biosciences today announced a global licensing agreement under which NEB will manufacture and commercialize Mammoth Biosciences' proprietary MB-CasFire™ enzyme. NEB and Mammoth Biosciences worked closely to bring MB-CasFire to market for Research Use Only (RUO), thereby providing the research community and diagnostics developers worldwide with a streamlined, "one-pot" CRISPR solution to design custom isothermal amplification assays for research, clinical and industrial applications.

MB-CasFire is an engineered, thermostable Type V CRISPR nuclease that uses a guide RNA (gRNA) for target recognition. The enzyme's broad temperature activity range allows it to be coupled directly with isothermal amplification methods, including loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) at 50-65°C and recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) at 37-42°C. By combining amplification and CRISPR-based reporter cleavage in a single reaction, MB-CasFire simplifies assay architecture and eliminates the need for multiple temperature incubation or component addition steps in an assay workflow.

Additionally, MB-CasFire solves a major bottleneck for developers utilizing highly sensitive, lower-temperature amplification methods. While techniques such as RPA and nicking enzyme amplification reaction (NEAR) are rapid, they can be prone to non-specific background amplification. MB-CasFire overcomes the inherent specificity limitations of RPA and NEAR by adding a critical secondary recognition layer, thereby making these rapid amplification chemistries reliable for assay developers.

"NEB has long been a driving force behind isothermal amplification methods, such as LAMP, to make molecular assay development faster and more accessible," said Nathan Tanner, Ph.D., Associate Director of Research, Applied Molecular Biology at NEB. "While developers wanted to combine the speed of these methods with the precision of CRISPR, the workflows were often too complex. MB-CasFire removes technical hurdles by creating a true one-pot solution for a variety of isothermal amplification methods, with broad applications to further support customers who are developing diagnostics."

"Mammoth's vision is to enable our CRISPR technologies to have real impact on human and planetary health," said Janice Chen, Ph.D., co-founder and CSO of Mammoth Biosciences. "With NEB's scientific expertise, manufacturing capability and global reach behind our CRISPR detection technology, researchers everywhere will have new tools to advance next-generation diagnostics and biosurveillance solutions."

Performance data for MB-CasFire highlights significant advantages for assay development:

• MB-CasFire functions across a broad range of temperatures from 37-65°C and is compatible with the salt and dNTP concentrations used in isothermal amplification assays.
• The integration of guide-directed target recognition adds a second specificity layer, in which the MB-CasFire CRISPR enzyme will only activate if it recognizes the exact intended sequence after amplification.
• MB-CasFire overcomes non-specific amplification in isothermal amplification methods such as RPA and NEAR, increasing the breadth of isothermal amplification methods available to regulated market customers and their assay development interests.
• The MB-CasFire nuclease resolves targets at single-nucleotide resolution, allowing it to differentiate closely related targets, such as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with ciprofloxacin-resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

MB-CasFire is available for RUO and now available globally through NEB and its worldwide distribution network. Inquiries about licensing for commercial use should be directed to Mammoth Biosciences. More information on MB-CasFire can be found at www.neb.com/M0670 and in a supporting manuscript.

About New England Biolabs 

For over 50 years, New England Biolabs (NEB) has pioneered the discovery and production of innovative products tailored for molecular biology research. Our commitment to scientific discovery is evident in all that we do, including our ever-expanding product portfolio, investment in our basic and applied research program, and support of customers' research in academia and industry, including cutting-edge technologies for use in molecular diagnostics and nucleic-acid vaccines development. Guided by our founding principles, NEB proactively invests in efforts to improve the well-being of our employees, surrounding communities, as well as the future of our planet. NEB remains a privately held company with global reach, supported by our headquarters in Ipswich, MA, USA, subsidiary offices in 11 countries, and over 60 distribution partners around the world. For more information about New England Biolabs, visit www.neb.com.

About Mammoth Biosciences 

Mammoth Biosciences is a biotechnology company focused on leveraging its proprietary ultracompact CRISPR systems to develop potential long-term curative therapies for patients with life-threatening and debilitating diseases. Founded by CRISPR pioneer and Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna and Trevor Martin, Janice Chen, and Lucas Harrington, the company's ultracompact systems are designed to be more specific and packageable to enable in vivo gene editing in difficult to reach tissues utilizing both nuclease applications and new editing modalities, including epigenetic editing, reverse transcriptase editing and base editing. The company is building out its wholly owned pipeline of potential in vivo gene editing therapeutics and capabilities and has partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to broaden the reach of its innovative and proprietary technology platform. Mammoth Biosciences' deep science and industry experience, along with a robust and differentiated intellectual property portfolio, have enabled the company to further its mission to transform the lives of patients and deliver on the promise of CRISPR technologies.

SOURCE New England Biolabs, Inc.