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of the Danish company SNIPR Biome. “We’ve been ab
le to kill whatever bacteria we tried it on in the lab. We want to turn the technology into a drug and the best outcome would be if we could treat indications and diseases that cannot be treated right now.” S Christian Grøndahl, cofounder and CEO, SNIPR Biome NIPR’s primary goal is to engineer microbiomes using CRISPR technology to treat several serious and life-threatening diseases, ranging from irritable bowel disease (IBD) to multi drug-resistant infections and cancer. Finding new ways to combat antibiotic resistant bacteria is also a high priority for Christian Grøndahl and his colleagues. “We’re really behind the curve when it comes to medicines, we take antibiotics for granted,” he says, referring to society as a whole. “There has been a 30-year gap with no new antibiotics. Why aren’t we investing in that? Between 10 to 20 percent of all cancer patients die of infections we cannot treat, and governments and agencies are starting to realize that more people are dying from antibiotic resistance. There are five or six bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. We hope to bring new medicines to society,” emphasizes Grøndahl. SNIPR Biome uses a different class of CRISPR systems, called the CRISPR/Cas3. “Instead of just making a doublestranded break like Cas9, Cas3 can actually shred the DNA like a real Pac-Man,” he says. Recently the company also discovered its own CRISPR/ Cas system which they call CasS, which is even smaller than CRISPR/Cas3, adds Grøndahl. Precise changes in genes Precision killing of bacteria has the potential to revolutionize the management of untreatable and difficult-to-treat conditions as well as complex diseases directly impacted by the human microbiota, according to Christian Grøndahl. “We do not merely use CRISPR as a tool, it is at the core of the drugs we make,” he says. “The CRISPR system is specifically programmed to remove the harmful components out of the microbiome while retaining the beneficial microbes.” “We focus on indications with a high unmet medical need,” he continues. “In the western world this means removing E. coli from the gut of hematological cancer patients as they are the group at a higher risk of blood stream infections. Additionally, we work successfully with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to target EED [environmental enteric dysfunction] in the global south.” The company currently has one drug (SNIPR001) designed to target E. coli infections in patients with blood cancer. They have completed Phase I of a clinical trial in the US and have now moved into Phase 1b/2a at stem cell transplantation centers in the US. Grøndahl’s hope for the future is that not only will CRISPR's uses expand, the public’s understanding and appreciation of its capabilities will also grow. “I want people to embrace the fact that genes are not scary, that there is nothing unnatural about them,” he says. “We’ve been modifying genes for decades, we've been modifying genes for livestock and production. Everything living contain genes. Genes are in bacteria, man, mice, and plants, and CRISPR is a natural mechanism that allows precise changes in genes.” NLS FACTS CRISPR CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. It is a component of bacterial immune systems that can cut DNA, and has been repurposed as a gene editing tool. It acts as a precise pair of molecular scissors that can cut a target DNA sequence, directed by a customizable guide. The system is made up of two key parts: a CRISPR-associated (Cas) nuclease, which binds and cuts DNA, and a guide RNA sequence (gRNA), which directs the Cas nuclease to its target. Source: Synthego 72 | NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG BREAKING NEW GROUND // CRISPR