BioSkryb Joins Genome Editing Consortium to Shape Standards

New developments at BioSkryb Genomics are positioning the Durham startup for future growth and a higher profile in the rapidly advancing field of genomics.

BioSkryb, which develops amplification tools for single-cell analysis, announced four agreements and milestones since early August. The five-year-old company, which secured an $11.5 million seed round in January 2020, has been building its core technology and its global distribution agreements.

In its most recent development, BioSkryb joined the Genome Editing Consortium, an arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The company’s participation in the consortium places BioSkryb at the heart of developing and promoting standards intended to increase public confidence in the use of genomic editing technologies.

BioSkryb said it will use its advanced research tools, based on a technology known as Primary Template-directed Amplification (PTA), within the consortium. BioSkryb’s products give researchers the ability to better understand the genome, transcriptome and proteome within a single cell. As a result, researchers get a more complete picture of what drives complex diseases.

The company’s ResolveDNA and ResolveOME product lines assist with genome editing on a cell-by-cell basis. Their use in the consortium will help define genome editing and reporting standards, generate benchmark data, and improve understanding of on- and off-target effects of gene editing, said the company. The consortium consists of industry, academic and government researchers working to address unknowns around genome editing - and what standards are needed to increase confidence and decrease risk in the development of therapies through genome editing.

“We have proven that a more precise and comprehensive view of the genome, alongside the functional consequences associated with the corresponding transcriptome can reveal a more complete understanding of on- and off-target events associated with gene editing,” BioSkryb CEO Suresh Pisharody said in a news release.

In addition to the consortium participation, BioSkryb recently announced:

• A partnership with Research Instruments Pte Ltd to distribute ResolveDNA and ResolveOME products in Southeast Asia. BioSkryb said the agreement with Research Instruments, a part of Everlife Asia, will expand distribution into seven Asian nations.
• The award of a composition of matter patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the company’s PTA technology. The patent is licensed exclusively to BioSkryb by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which initially developed the technology.
• The launch of high-throughput automation for ResolveDNA, delivering single-cell genomics at scale.

BioSkryb was founded in 2018 through the licensing of the PTA technology from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. That team was led by Charles Gawad, M.D., Ph.D., a BioSkryb co-founder, who continues to serve as a director and member of the company’s scientific advisory board. Gawad is an associate professor of pediatrics at Stanford University.