BioCentury
ARTICLE | Emerging Company Profile

RNA gets CRISPR

How Locana is using CRISPR to go after RNA-driven diseases

September 14, 2017 5:57 PM UTC

Two of the outstanding hurdles for CRISPR-based gene editing are the safety concerns of permanently changing the cell’s DNA and the efficacy limitations of relying on natural DNA repair mechanisms to fix the cuts. Locana Inc. is circumventing both problems by targeting CRISPR-Cas9 to RNA, and is building a pipeline for treating RNA-driven diseases.

The technology is based on work by interim CEO Gene Yeo and his colleagues at the University of California San Diego, who showed last year that a form of Cas9 could bind RNA rather than DNA inside living cells. Yeo is a professor of cellular and molecular medicine at UCSD...

BCIQ Company Profiles

Locanabio Inc.