Sangamo Therapeutics

Sangamo Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing gene and cell therapies using genetic engineering that is headquartered in Richmond, California and founded in 1995 by Edward Lanphier.

Sangamo uses zinc finger nuclease technologywhere a class of proteins called zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFPs), recognize and bind to specific sequences of DNA . In 2005 Sangamo researchers used their technology to target and correct a gene mutation in human cells in culture. In 2009 scientists at Sangamo conducted clinical trials with gene edited T cells for treatment of HIV. In 2018, they initiated the first ever in vivo genome editing clinical trials. . Using their system, zinc finger nucleases were used to insert a healthy version of the IDS gene, which codes for an enzyme called iduronate-2-sulfatase, into liver cells of patients with Hunter syndrome who have mutations that disable the enzyme. While zinc finger gene editing has been performed in cells removed from the body and infused back into the donor, this was the first to directly edit a gene in the body.

In an agreement between Sangamo and Mogrify, the later company’s cell conversion technology will be applied to generate regulatory T cells from pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells. Sangamo aims to apply its ZFP gene engineering technology to Tregs as allogeneic cell therapies to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

On February 7, 2018 Sangamo Therapeutics received a grant worth $11 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).