ATUM Launches Cell-Line Development Service

ATUM (formerly DNA2.0) has announced an expansion of its services to include cell line development, which has been enabled by the company’s proprietary Leap-In Transposase® genome engineering tools.  ATUM has also begun construction of a new, 7,000 SF mammalian cell engineering laboratory at its Newark, CA headquarters. The new facility, due to be fully operational by September 2017, will double ATUM's lab space dedicated to mammalian work, and will include a cGMP cell bank manufacturing facility that is expected to be fully validated by the end of the year.

"The Leap-In Transposases give us stable, highly productive cell lines in very short timeframes,” said Ferenc Boldog, Ph.D., director of cell line development at ATUM and former head of cell line development at Shire. “In the era of CRISPR/Cas9 and TALENs, making gene knock-outs has been simplified. Leap-In Transposase complements these tools by enabling us to rapidly insert DNA of unlimited size into a target genome. The availability of two independent transposons allows us to make sequential genome modifications. For example, we can add half a dozen genes to modify glycosylation pathways using one transposase, then integrate 4 new genes to produce a bispecific antibody with an improved glycosylation profile."

ATUM has so far been granted four patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USTPO) for the company’s novel Leap-In Transposase technology:  "Enhanced nucleic acid constructs for eukaryotic gene expression,” Patent Nos: 9,428,767; 9,574,209; 9,580,697 and 9,534,234.

"With Dr. Boldog’s leadership, we have turned Leap-In from a research tool into a cell line development powerhouse,” said Jeremy Minshull, CEO of ATUM.  "We are finding that this novel technology significantly accelerates stable pool and cell-line generation for protein pharmaceutical production. We obtain high productivities when used in conjunction with metabolic selections such as dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and glutamine synthetase (GS) or more generic drug selections such as puromycin. Now that high yield stable pools are so quick and easy to make, our partners can move into their final production host earlier in the drug development process, thereby giving them added confidence about the properties of their molecules.”