CRISPR Platform

The Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) builds key enabling technologies for precision engineering of nucleic acids. We engineer genes, genetic pathways, and genomes so as to enable the dissection of disease mechanisms, generation of new disease models, and ultimately development of targeted therapeutics, including with CRISPR-Cas and beyond. We discover and engineer new, safer, and more efficacious CRISPR-Cas systems. We combine genome engineering machineries with various viral and non-viral delivery systems to create Nucleic Acid Therapeutics (NATs) so as to conduct genetic surgery directly in cells and within the body. It is with this strategic importance that the VectorCore@GIS provides community access to high-grade Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) gene therapy vectors, which together with our other viral and non-viral vector expertise, enables the delivery of therapeutic components effectively into different target organs and cells. Our science enables the fight against diseases of national priority, including cancers, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic conditions, neurological disorders, and infectious diseases.

As nucleic acid technologies mature, they will push further into non-traditional and non-biological application spaces. Early examples of emerging applications that are enabled by mature genome-read and -write technologies are synthetic biology and DNA storage. It is hence apt that the existing close proximity of biomedical science and physical engineering within A*STAR have laid out the broad infrastructure and ecosystem needed to capitalize on these new frontiers and to bring about new opportunities in engineered biomedicine and advanced manufacturing. Our science realises the full potential of nucleic acid technologies and bring these innovations to bear on industrial needs and diseases relevant to Singapore.