COBRA DEVELOPS NEW GENETIC ENGINEERING TOOL FOR INSERTING GENES INTO BACTERIA

Cobra Biomanufacturing plc (AIM: CBF), the international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, today announces the development of a new method for inserting or deleting genes in bacteria; the Xer-cise technology.

This work is described in the current edition of the prestigious international peer reviewed science publication Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Xer-cise was developed in Cobra’s research laboratories over several years and enables genes to be switched in and out of bacterial chromosomal DNA cleanly and more efficiently than current methods. Gene insertion and deletion is particularly problematic in the more novel species of bacteria of industrial interest such as Bacillus. Xer-cise is of generic utility and is simple to employ.

David Thatcher, Chief Executive of Cobra Biomanufacturing commented: “Much of Cobra’s work for our international client base is underpinned by the application state of the art genetic engineering methods to the development of their products. Xer-cise is a novel methodology invented by Cobra which will translate into accelerated drug development for our customers”.