Origen Therapeutics AwardedTwo Grants

Origen Therapeutics AwardedTwo Grants

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Origen Therapeutics Inc., a privately held biotechnology company, received two Phase I Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR) grants to conduct research on the production of therapeutic proteins in eggs. Each of the grants provides Origen (www.origentherapeutics.com) with $100,000 over a six-month period.

The first grant covers the development of a tissue-specific expression system that results in higher yields of protein in egg whites. The second one supports research aimed at developing chickens that produce recipient embryos that yield high-grade chimeras. "Somatic cell chimeras created in this way might be used to produce pharmaceutical proteins in eggs as soon as the chimeras commence laying and before they transmit the gene encoding of the biopharmaceutical protein to the next generation of birds," said Origen scientist, Babette Heyer, Ph.D.