Mammoth Biosciences
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founder | Jennifer Doudna, Janice Chen, Lucas Harrington, Trevor Martin |
| Headquarters | Brisbane, California , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | CRISPR-based diagnostic assays, CRISPR therapeutic platforms |
Mammoth Biosciences is a biotechnology firm headquartered in Brisbane, California that specializes in creating diagnostic assays utilizing CRISPR-Cas12a technology alongside proprietary ultra-compact CRISPR systems for therapeutic applications. Their platform, which employs metagenomic approaches, has discovered novel CRISPR enzymes such as CasΦ and Cas14, demonstrating promising capabilities for in vivo therapeutic genome editing.
History
Established in 2017 by Jennifer Doudna, Janice Chen, Lucas Harrington (all affiliated with University of California, Berkeley) and Trevor Martin (Stanford University), Mammoth combined its CRISPR intellectual property with Horizon Discovery’s expertise in Chinese hamster ovary cell technologies through agreements finalized in late 2019 and early 2020. During 2020, Mammoth collaborated with Sherlock Biosciences to produce CRISPR-based diagnostic tests for COVID-19 marketed under the DETECTR BOOST brand, with production outsourced to Merck & Co..
By 2023, Mammoth redirected its efforts toward CRISPR-driven therapeutic development, capitalizing on ultra-small Cas enzymes such as CasΦ and Cas14, which are notably more compact than Cas9. This size advantage facilitates their delivery in vivo via both viral and non-viral vectors including adeno-associated virus. These enzymes feature less stringent protospacer adjacent motif constraints, enhanced specificity reducing off-target effects, and the ability to perform allele-specific editing, thereby broadening the scope of treatable genetic conditions. Mammoth has formed partnerships with Vertex Pharmaceuticals in 2021 and Bayer in 2022 to advance gene editing therapies employing these miniature CRISPR systems.
Related Works
- Lucas B. Harrington et al., Programmed DNA destruction by miniature CRISPR-Cas14 enzymes. Science 362, 839-842 (2018).
- Broughton, J.P., Deng, X., Yu, G. et al. CRISPR–Cas12-based detection of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Biotechnol 38, 870–874 (2020).
- Patrick Pausch et al., CRISPR-CasΦ from huge phages, a hypercompact genome editor. Science 369, 333-337 (2020).