
And then there were … oh, forget it: We’ve given up trying to count the number of CRISPR companies, but we can tell you that one more came out of stealth mode on Thursday. After a year spent wooing investors, hiring, and refining its plans, Mammoth Biosciences, co-founded by CRISPR developer Jennifer Doudna, is announcing its entry into the ever-more-crowded fields of diagnostics and genome-editing, and hoping to find a sweet spot at their intersection.
“Mammoth Biosciences is all about building a CRISPR-based platform for disease detection,” said CEO Trevor Martin, who got a Ph.D. in genetics and statistics from Stanford in 2016.
The company’s point-of-care test on urine, saliva, blood, or sweat will work like a home pregnancy kit, disposable paper strip and all; be able to test for several conditions at a time; and return results (a color change) in 30 minutes. It has an experimental prototype, and hopes to reach the market “in the next few years,” Martin said.