A Gene-Editing Startup Just Won A CRISPR Patent

Broad Institute

A biotech startup has been issued a patent that involves CRISPR, the breakthrough gene-editing method that has sparked a nearly unprecedented intellectual property feud between some of the country's biggest institutions. But it's unclear what effect, if any, the patent will have on that fight.

The patent issued Tuesday went to Caribou Biosciences in Berkeley, which was co-founded by Jennifer Doudna. The University of California, Berkeley, scientist has said that she, along with French microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier, invented CRISPR — a claim disputed by rival researcher Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Zhang's CRISPR patents were issued first and are licensed to the newly public therapeutics company Editas Medicine, among others.

Jennifer Doudna

Steve Jennings / Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize

The CRISPR patents of Zhang's in dispute involve Cas9, the name of a protein that, in short, makes CRISPR work. But Caribou's new patent — which patent experts on all sides are still puzzling over — seems to describe ways of making the technology work with proteins other than Cas9.

In plain English, Caribou at first glance seems to be staking out a much wider range of CRISPR uses, Jacob Sherkow, an associate law professor who specializes in biotechnology and intellectual property at New York Law School, told BuzzFeed News.

Which means the patent dispute may "not be an end-all be-all," Sherkow said. "Even if Doudna loses, there’s still going to have patents like these or this one out there. They may be able to use these to block Zhang and Editas from using some techniques, it's possible."

Put another way: "It's significant — and the meaning of it is still unclear."

Caribou filed this patent, titled "Compositions and methods of nucleic acid-targeting nucleic acids," in March 2014. Meanwhile, Doudna and Charpentier's original CRISPR patent application from May 2012 — the application that has triggered the now ongoing dispute yet to be resolved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — is still pending.

Spokespeople for the Broad Institute, UC Berkeley, and Caribou Biosciences did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News requests for comment.

This video from the Broad Institute explains how CRISPR works:

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