Traditional genome editing faced limitations in achieving ultimate precision until now. Prof. Buchholz’s team has broken through this barrier by creating what many have wanted: a zinc-finger conditioned recombinase. This revolutionary approach involves integrating a zinc-finger DNA-binding domain into specially designed recombinases. These enzymes remain inactive until the DNA-binding domain engages with its goal site, adjoining to the recombinase binding area.
The importance of this achievement lies within the fusion of two key strengths: the targeting ease of programmable nucleases and the precise DNA editing capabilities of recombinases. This breakthrough overcomes existing limitations in genome editing techniques and holds vast promise for therapeutic gene editing and various biomedical applications.
Prof. Buchholz expresses his enthusiasm, stating, “This breakthrough represents a harmonization of existing genome editing tools, allowing us to create precision enzymes independent of natural DNA repair mechanisms. This marks a big step towards a safer and more adaptable approach of correcting disease-causing genetic mutations, offering immense advantages for varied patients.”
This pioneering work opens latest horizons in genome surgery and guarantees a safer, more precise approach to treating genetic disorders. The implications of this breakthrough extend far and wide, potentially transforming the landscape of drugs as we comprehend it. On this context, Professor Esther Troost, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden, emphasizes, “The Faculty of Medicine at TU Dresden is setting latest standards for revolutionary medicine with groundbreaking genome editing tools. Under the leadership of Prof. Frank Buchholz, the research team is breaking traditional boundaries and paving the way in which for specialised gene therapy applications.”
Constructing upon these advancements, Seamless Therapeutics GmbH, a biotechnology company founded out of the Buchholz lab, will advance these revolutionary findings to therapeutic application. The corporate has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with the TU Dresden for this novel technology that permits Seamless to further expand their recombinase platform to vary the paradigm of gene editing and develop a pipeline of disease-modifying product candidates across a broad spectrum of indications.
