Janice Chen

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Janice Chen is co-founder and chief research officer of the South San Francisco-based company, Mammoth Biosciences, which is applying DETECTR, its programmable , to reliable and rapid COVID-19 detection leading to quick diagnoses in even .[1][2][3] Founded in 2017, Mammoth uses CRISPR as a genetic “search engine” to alert researchers of disease markers it identifies.[4][5] As a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, Chen worked in the lab of CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna, receiving her PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology.[3] Other Mammoth Biosciences founders are Jennifer Doudna, , CEO Trevor Martin and CTO --all Bay Area-trained scientists; at founding, the company set out to apply CRISPR technology to new frontiers.[6][7]

Scientific significance[]

Collaborating with University of California at San Francisco researcher who is on Mammoth's scientific advisory board, Mammoth is contributing to the international effort to produce a diagnostic test for the coronavirus referred to as COVID-19.[4] SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus--cause of societal social-distancing and global quarantines--is detected from RNA extracts appearing on nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal respiratory swab tests; the Mammoth test is applied to detect nucleic acids so that an asymptomatic patient can be identified.[2][8]

The Mammoth method differs from earlier blood serum tests in that they been developed to detect antibodies.[2] Mammoth focuses on , a protein more precise because of its smaller size than the more frequently applied Cas9 protein currently used by most biotech companies.[4] Cas14 can be programmed to signal DNA evidence of a disease; a color change in the test solution indicates a .[4] This test method has been named by Mammoth as , SARS-CoV-2 DNA Endonuclease-Targeted CRISPR Trans Reporter.[8]

test results can be seen on a within 30-40 minutes,[8] a much quicker turnaround time with equal or better accuracy rates than currently available diagnostics.[9][8] Its use adheres to current guidelines of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration . The power of Mammoth's as an effective COVID-19 detector first appeared in a study released on April 16, 2020 analyzing the largest set of to date; this study contained the first applying CRISPR diagnostics to coronavirus research.[10]

Mammoth is also a partner with the gene-editing company Horizon Discovery.[11]

Awards and honors[]

Janice Chen was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 Class of 2018 acknowledging her as "among the most influential millennial professionals in healthcare."[12] Others named included her Mammoth Biosciences co-founding colleagues CEO Trevor Martin and Chief Discovery Officer Lucas Harrington and their CRISPR mentor Jennifer Doudna.[12][13]

References[]

  1. ^ "30 Under 30 Spotlight: Unsung Heroes in Healthcare Janice Chen | Forbes Healthcare Summit 2019". Forbes. December 16, 2019. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Dutton, Gail (April 24, 2020). "Mammoth's CRISPR Assay for Asymptomatic COVID-19 Carriers Gains Peer-Reviewed Validation". BioSpace. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "Janice Chen". TEDx CERN. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Rosenbaum, Leah (January 30, 2020). "Mammoth Biosciences Raises $45 Million For Crispr Diagnostics—And Its Tech Is Already Being Used Against Coronavirus". Forbes. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  5. ^ CNBC.com staff (November 12, 2019). "Mammoth Biosciences". CNBC. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  6. ^ Leuty, Ron (January 31, 2020). "How a Peninsula biotech plans to cut its way to gene-editing success". The Business Journals. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Meiling, Brittany (July 31, 2018). "The Google of CRISPR tech? Tech legends Tim Cook and Jeff Huber back Mammoth Biosciences". Endpoints News. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b c d James P. Broughton, Xianding Deng, Guixia Yu, Clare L. Fasching, Venice Servellita, Jasmeet Singh, Xin Miao, Jessica A. Streithorst, Andrea Granados, Alicia Sotomayor-Gonzalez, Kelsey Zorn, Allan Gopez, Elaine Hsu, Wei Gu, Steve Miller, Chao-Yang Pan, Hugo Guevara, Debra A. Wadford, Janice S. Chen & Charles Y. Chiu (April 16, 2020). "CRISPR–Cas12-based detection of SARS-CoV-2". Nature Biotechnology. 38 (7): 870–874. doi:10.1038/s41587-020-0513-4. PMID 32300245. Retrieved May 12, 2020.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ HospiMedica International staff writers (April 27, 2020). "CRISPR-Based Test Detects SARS-CoV-2 from Respiratory Swab RNA Extracts in 45 Minutes". HospiMedica.com. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  10. ^ "Mammoth Biosciences Announces Peer-Reviewed Validation Of Its Rapid, CRISPR-Based COVID-19 Diagnostic". SynBioBeta. April 21, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  11. ^ "Horizon Discovery, Mammoth Biosciences Sign Second CRISPR Tools Development Agreement". genomeweb. January 13, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Mammoth Biosciences Co-Founders Trevor Martin, Janice Chen and Lucas Harrington Named to 2018 Forbes' 30 Under 30". WebWire. November 15, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  13. ^ Rosenbaum, Leah (January 30, 2020). "Mammoth Biosciences Raises $45 Million For Crispr Diagnostics—And Its Tech Is Already Being Used Against Coronavirus". Forbes. Retrieved May 25, 2020.
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