Newswise — ST. LOUIS, July 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- SAGE Labs Inc., a leading provider of products, services and technologies in the field of genome engineering, announced today that they have licensed CRISPR/Cas9 technology from the Broad Institute. The license enables SAGE Labs to use the CRISPR/Cas9 system to engineer cell and animal models for their clients as well as distribute validated CRISPR reagents. This is the second license obtained by SAGE Labs around CRISPR/Cas9 technology; SAGE also obtained a license from Caribou Biosciences in September 2013.

The Broad Institute was recently issued the first patent for CRISPR/Cas9 technology based on the research of Feng Zhang, PhD, published in Science in January of 2013. CRISPR/Cas9 technology represents the latest advancement in nuclease-based gene editing tools, which have revolutionized genetic engineering by markedly reducing development times and enabling genetic engineering in potentially any species.

David Smoller, PhD., CEO of SAGE Labs, explained, "At SAGE Labs we use the latest technologies to provide our clients with the most advanced models of human disease, and in the shortest timelines possible. It's also essential that our clients receive the freedom-to-operate with their research models, and we're committed to obtaining the necessary licenses."

About SAGE Labs

SAGE® Labs is a leading provider of advanced gene editing tools, research models, and support services. Harnessing the latest technologies for genome engineering including Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFN) and CRISPR/Cas9, SAGE produces complex research models in less than half the time as conventional technologies. In addition, SAGE Labs is a premier source for custom-designed and stringently validated CRISPR/Cas9 reagents. For more information, visit http://www.sageresearchlabs.com.

About the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard:The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was launched in 2004 to empower this generation of creative scientists to transform medicine. The Broad Institute seeks to describe all the molecular components of life and their connections; discover the molecular basis of major human diseases; develop effective new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics; and disseminate discoveries, tools, methods, and data openly to the entire scientific community.

Founded by MIT, Harvard, and its affiliated hospitals, and the visionary Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe L. Broad, the Broad Institute includes faculty, professional staff and students from throughout the MIT and Harvard biomedical research communities and beyond, with collaborations spanning over a hundred private and public institutions in more than 40 countries worldwide. For further information about the Broad Institute, go to http://www.broadinstitute.org.

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Kevin GamberDirector of Marketing and Business Development314-400-6610[email protected]

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