New 'laboratory for genomics research' unites CRISPR pioneers with industry expertise

UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) has teamed up with the University of California to establish a state-of-the-art laboratory for CRISPR technologies, the Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR), in a five-year collaboration.+

The new laboratory will explore how gene mutations cause disease and develop new technologies using CRISPR to rapidly accelerate the discovery of new medicines.

The LGR is the brainchild of Jennifer Doudna, a co-inventor of CRISPR technology and UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and of chemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; Jonathan Weissman, a UCSF pioneer of CRISPR screening technology and an HHMI investigator; and Hal Barron, the chief scientific officer and president for R&D at GSK.