Horizon Discovery releases CRISPR screening for primary human B cells

Cambridge, UK-based Horizon Discovery Group, specializing in the application of gene editing and gene modulation for cell line engineering, has released an arrayed CRISPR knockout screening service for primary human B cells to its cell-based screening services.
The new B cell screening service, the first of its kind in the market, will enable researchers to identify genes that affect the function of B cells and examine how this impacts other immune cell types, particularly in infectious diseases, cancer, and auto-immune disorders, such as COVID-19, Burkitt’s lymphoma and multiple sclerosis respectively.
Primary human cells – cells that are freshly isolated from donors – are known to be difficult to study in the lab. However, working with these cells brings scientists one step closer to healthy or diseased micro-environments, enabling them to better understand disease etiology and therapeutic mechanisms, and thereby advance drug discovery and development programs.
“The interest in harnessing the immune system for effective therapies continues to grow, with the global cell therapy market predicted to reach $8.21bn by 2025. Expanding our services to encompass screening of both primary T and B cells is another example of our commitment to apply decades of gene editing experience in support of drug discovery and development for the treatment of human disease,” said Terry Pizzie, CEO, Horizon Discovery.