Involving the scientist widely attributed with discovery of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool, Caribou Biosciences, Inc. is a biotechnology company specializing in the research and development of tools and technologies for cellular engineering and analysis. The firm has developed gene editing technology for use across agriculture, therapeutics, biological research, and industrial biotechnology. In agriculture, Caribou is researching the use of CRISPR to promote drought tolerance, disease resistance, increase crop yields, and develop healthier crops. aribou's technologies are based on the unique capabilities of Cas enzymes from the CRISPR prokaryotic immune system. The firm's lead technology is the Cas9 enzyme, a highly efficient and easy to use genome editing platform that does not require unique protein development. Cas9-based editing permits multiplex genome engineering by targeting multiple genomic sites in a single experimental step. Caribou research tools and technologies will provide transformative capabilities to basic and applied research and development in the drug development, agricultural biotechnology, and industrial biosciences fields. Their current portfolio relies on the unique properties of proteins and short RNAs from the recently discovered prokaryotic immune system called CRISPR. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a nucleic-acid based immune system that protects bacteria and archaea from invading selfish genetic elements such as bacteriophage, archaeal viruses, and plasmids.
