CRISPR diagnostics company Mammoth launches

Mammoth Biosciences is the latest biotech start-up to launch centered on CRISPR gene-editing technology. Rather than use CRISPR as a therapy, Mammoth plans to develop diagnostics that use CRISPR to detect diseases, including bacterial and viral infections, cancer, and genetic conditions. The system uses enzymes called Cas12 or Cas13 to recognize and cut disease-associated DNA or RNA, respectively, which will be represented by a color change on a paper-based test. The company was cofounded by Jennifer Doudna, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, who is one of the inventors of CRISPR gene editing.