Fur Real: Biotech Startup Eliminates Major Dog Allergen in Beagle Pups Using CRISPR
The puppies represent a key first step towards addressing canine allergenicity and mark potentially a significant advance in veterinary biotechnology. The post Fur Real: Biotech Startup Eliminates Major Dog Allergen in Beagle Pups Using CRISPR appeared first on GEN - Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News .
Kindred Companion Sciences, a New York-based biotech startup, has achieved a significant milestone in veterinary biotechnology by successfully using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to breed a pair of healthy beagle puppies, Alfie and Bailey, that lack the primary protein responsible for human dog allergies. This breakthrough, detailed in a study published in The CRISPR Journal, represents a major step towards addressing canine allergenicity, which affects about one in seven people worldwide.
The study's lead author, Matt Walker, a Canadian geneticist and CEO of Kindred Companion Sciences, expressed his personal motivation for the research, stating that he has been an allergy sufferer his whole life and that his family could not own a dog until he left for university. Walker believes that this gene-edited approach could revolutionize the way dogs are bred for certain traits, offering a more direct and effective solution to the problem of dog allergies.
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