Prof. Roman Jerala received ERC Proof of Concept grant
Prof. dr. Roman Jeralareceived the ERC Proof of Concept grant with project »CCEdit – Coiled-coil mediated exonuclease tethering technology for the enhancement of CRISPR gene editing«. The scope of the project is to develop the use of the improved CRISPR system for gene knockout in the genome.
ERC Proof of Concept (PoC) grant is awarded by the European Research Council with a view to finance the initial phases of the transfer of fundamental scientific discoveries into use. The ERC PoC project, which can only be acquired by researchers who already have an ERC research project, promotes the transfer of scientific knowledge to elements with a market or social value. The project funds are used by the scientists to finance development, patent protection, market analysis, connection with potential partners, and the initial degree of comercialisation or transfer of fundamental scientific discoveries to wider use.
The newly acquired CCEdit project originates from the results of the current ERC Advanced Grant project MaCChines, which was launched by Prof. Dr. Jerala’s group in 2018. Last year, with a significant contribution from Dr. Duško Lainšček, a group from the Chemical Institute filed a patent application to improve the CRISPR method. The project is planning to develop technology and demonstration for treatment and biotechnological use for plants, micro-organisms, and mammalian cells. The project will take place for 18 months and will also include participation of Tomaž Bizjak, a technology transfer expert.
