U.S. Patent Issued for a Family of Sleeping Beauty Soluble Protein Cell Transfection Agents

CHO Plus has in-licensed the family of optimized transposase variants which can insert genetic elements into cells in a more controlled fashion

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CHO Plus, Inc. (www.CHO-Plus.com), a leading developer of biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology, announces that U.S. Patent No. 12,270,055 was issued today by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH has licensed the patented technology to CHO Plus for transfecting cells to produce therapeutic agents.

The patent covers a family of variants of Sleeping Beauty transposase that were developed by Dr. Orsolya Barabas, Dr. Irma Querques, and Dr. Cecilia Zulianiat at EMBL (the European Molecular Biology Laboratory). The crystal structure of the original transposase protein was determined, and used to identify regions that can be mutated to increase solubility. Making the protein more soluble confers several advantages: By transfecting cells with the transposase in soluble protein form, rather than as a nucleic acid vector, the user can closely control the number of gene copy insertions per genome; the transposase protein is more stable and reproducible than the nucleic acid versions; after transfection, the activity is rapidly cleared.

CHO Plus has developed patented cell engineering technology that increases the capacity of cells to produce therapeutic proteins, and viral vectors for gene therapy—all with improved quality attributes. Current studies demonstrate that CHO Plus-engineered CHO cells produce up to five times more therapeutic antibody than un-engineered cells; CHO Plus-engineered HEK-293 cells produce up to 20 times more AAV vector, with up to 55% full capsids before purification.

Larry Forman, Founder and CEO of CHO Plus, said: “We licensed this technology from EMBLEM because we recognized the benefits of optimizing gene insertion. The soluble Sleeping Beauty transposase protein is particularly well suited for inserting genes into our highly productive engineered cells. We intend to make the improved soluble transposase protein available for use in both biologics manufacturing and basic research through a commercial vendor.”

About CHO Plus, Inc.

CHO Plus, a privately held company located in South San Francisco, was founded with the mission of increasing the productivity of cells used for manufacturing life-saving therapeutic agents for treating a wide range of clinical conditions.

For more information, visit www.CHO-Plus.com.