SAGE Labs, Inc. Licenses CRISPR/Cas9 genome engineering technology from Caribou Biosciences, Inc.

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SAGE Labs, Inc., a leading provider of in vivo products, services and technologies in the field of genome engineering, announced today that it has entered into a partnership and licensing agreement with Caribou Biosciences, Inc. (Caribou Bio) for key intellectual property related to the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system.

Under the agreement, SAGE Labs will gain exclusive rights to Caribou Bio's intellectual property to produce and sell genetically engineered rats, and will gain non-exclusive rights for mouse and rabbit models.  The Cas9 system will complement SAGE's Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFN) technology, allowing SAGE to offer customers access to novel animal models of human disease, as well as reduced turnaround times for its custom model creation platform, SAGEspeed®.

"SAGE Labs is the leader in creation of next-generation research models. As such, it is important to have access to key technologies needed to perform complex genome engineering projects," commented Dr. David Smoller, CEO of SAGE Labs. "Using Cas9 allows us to provide our customers with enhanced models that provide the most translational value for their research."

"We believe the Cas9 system will become very important in the creation of new models of human disease, both in vitro and in vivo," commented Dr. Rachel Haurwitz, CEO of Caribou Bio. "SAGE Labs' track record as a market leader in commercializing in vivo technologies will enable them to use Cas9-based engineering to bring innovative, high-quality engineered research models to the marketplace."

Please see www.sageresearchlabs.com for further details.

About SAGE Labs

SAGE® Labs is a world-class provider of next-generation research models and transgenic support services. Using proprietary platform technologies, such as Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFN) and the CRISPR/Cas9 system for genome engineering, SAGE produces complex in vivo research models in half the time as models produced using conventional technologies. For more information, visit http://www.sageresearchlabs.com.

About Caribou Bio

Caribou Bio specializes in the research and development of technologies for cellular engineering and analysis. Caribou Bio's technologies are based on the unique capabilities of Cas enzymes from the CRISPR prokaryotic immune system. Caribou Bio's lead technology is the Cas9 enzyme, a highly efficient and easy to use genome editing platform that does not require unique protein development.

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SOURCE SAGE Labs, Inc.