Allele Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a private, San Diego-based company that explores the mechanisms of biological processes to develop technologies and products for biomedical research and therapy development.
Our mission is to increase accessibility to innovative molecular biology research tools by offering cutting edge technologies in individual products and fully integrated platforms. Allele utilizes proprietary non-integrating cellular reprogramming methods to develop cell therapy and enable drug discovery through the use of human and non-human primate iPS cells, cGMP-grade human iPS cells and their derivatives. With additional expertise in genome modification and unique cell-based fluorescence sensors/reporters, Allele provides advanced cell and assay development solutions. Allele also has developed a wide variety of advanced research tools including superior fluorescent proteins, highly efficient luciferase assay substrates, genotyping kits, and camelid antibodies that have been validated for co-immunoprecipitation, histology, and flow cytometry. The Company has also been a leader in the RNAi field with its patents in Pol III promoter-driven siRNA, shRNA, and miRNA.
Careers
If you are committed to making a significant difference within the scientific community and believe in career advancement, we invite you to learn more about our business groups, our products and plans for the future. Please email: employment@allelebiotech.com
History
- 1999 - Company founded
- 2000 - Rented R&D facilities
- 2001 - Received funding through 3 NIH SBIR grants
- 2001 - Launched oligo synthesis service
- 2001 - Filed for the first Pol III driven RNAi patent
- 2002 - Patent-pending RNAi technology developed into LineSilence Kits
- 2002 - LineSilence Kits launched as the first DNA-based RNAi system, marketed through Promega
- 2003 - Established custom services to carry out CRO projects
- 2003 - Received 2 more NIH grants to further develop Allele RNAi platform
- 2004 - Developed innovative systems for quantitative RNA detection
- 2004 - Initiated the first ever RNAi workshop series in top universities around China through subsidiary company Allele China
- 2005 - Became an end user market-oriented business by major expansions in new products, direct sales team, and professional customer service
- 2006 - Moved to the Mesa Rim, San Diego facility in an expansion of business
- 2006 - Launched first fluorescent protein product
- 2007 - First US patent issued on DNA-driven RNAi technology
- 2007 - Accelerated customer services in antibody gene cloning and established cell lines for therapeutic companies
- 2007 - Licensed fluorescent proteins to leading drug companies
- 2008 - Successfully completed a cancer diagnostics antibody development contract for the National Cancer Institute, NIH in collaboration with AvantGen
- 2008 - Second US patent issued on broad use of engineered human and mouse U6 promoter to introduce siRNA or shRNA
- 2008 - Acquired Orbigen, Inc. and expanded product line to include about 1,000 antibodies and a baculovirus protein expression system
- 2009 - Third US patent issued on siRNA and shRNA in the US
- 2009 - Introduced of iPSC product line
- 2009 - Broad DNA-expressed RNAi patent issued in China
- 2009 - Publication in PLoSONE on RNA splicing regulator that can bind two different RNA targets at a distance or on different molecules
- 2009 - Introduction of Chromotek GFP-Trap and other camelid antibody products
- 2010 - Carried out glycosylated cancer antigen production project for NCI
- 2010 - Received 3 grants on qualified therapeutics and diagnostics projects
- 2010 - Received funding from NCI/NIH for shRNA screening in cancer-related DNA damage repair pathway
- 2010 - Published original research paper and filed a patent application on photoconvertible fluorescent protein (mClav series)
- 2011 - Launched a new web-based purchasing system
- 2011 - Filed patents: one using enzyme-based ratio enhancement for detection of genetic diseases using maternal blood DNA; the second using fluorescent proteins for skin protection
- 2011 - Expanded iPSC product line to include in vitro transcription template for introducing reprogramming or directed differentiation factor mRNAs
- 2011 - Received and successfully executed a contract from the NIDA/NIH to develop novel technologies for isolating camelid antibodies
- 2012 - Founded the Scintillon Institute for bioengineering and bioimaging with Dr. Nathan Shaner for nonprofit research with long-term basic research projects for the advancement of science and benefits of human society
- 2012 - Purchased a two-story building to convert it into a class A, molecular and cell biology laboratory to support R&D and new stem cell business
- 2012 - Developed novel mRNA-based reprogramming technologies, an effort led by Dr. Luigi Warren, which is published in Nature’s Scientific Reports and is the subject of a new patent application
- 2012 - Published an original research paper describing a novel adipogenesis regulatory factor AFRO (or ADIRF for Adipogenesis Regulatory Factor designated by HUGO after our publication) and its functions in fat cell fate commitment
- 2013 - Published the brightest monomeric fluorescent protein mNeonGreen in Nature Methods
- 2013 – Launched the "Super-resolution for Every Lab" campaign, with a web portal to provide information and resources: superresolution.allelebiotech.com, and a new distribution model, https://reagents.allelebiotech.com/categories/Fluorescent-Proteins/Sublicensing/
- 2013- Received a grant from NIDA/NIH to further improve mRNA reprogramming
- 2014 - Dr. Jiwu Wang co-authored a Nature Medicine article on using iPSCs for mitochondrial cardiomyopathy modeling with researchers with collaborators at Harvard led by Drs. William Pu, George Church, Ken Chien, Gordon Keller, Kit Parker, etc.
- 2014 – A publication by an ACT/Ocata team in Stem Cell Reports (Dr. Jiwu Wang as a co-author) showed that Allele’s mRNA-iPSCs differentiate well in a large-scale platelet production process
- 2014 – Received VC funding to expand stem cell cGMP production and custom banking. Yuan Group and Yifang are the leading VC firms in this round
- 2014- Received NIH SBIR grants on developing an all RNA platform for CRISPR genome modification (NIGMS) and creating nanoantibodies (nAb) against mRNA modification groups (NIDA)
- 2015- Licensed the intellectual property of Allele's feeder-free, integration-free, and xeno-free reprogramming technology using mRNAs of novel transcription factor combinations to Ocata, now under Astellas, the second largest Japanese pharmaceutical company, for developing cell treatment for macular degenderation
- 2015 - Purchased a 18,000 square foot building with cleanroom setup to accommodate Allele’s cGMP iPSC and stem cell derived tissues cells for future therapies
- 2015 – Closed the tranche 2 investment for business expansion. Established facilities for new laboratory space, animal care, and high throughput drug screening center for Allele and the Scintillon Institute
- 2015 – Recived an NIA/NIH grant to develop nanoantibodies (nAb) against amyloid beta (Ab) in treating Alzheimer’s disease
- 2015 – Formed formal drug development venture with high content screening company Vala Sciences and formally launched joint drug development service, which includes kinetic imaging and histology analysis
- 2016- Received NHLBI/NIH grant to develop a large-scale stem cell production
- 2016- Published a protocol for cGMP production of iPSCs in Current Protocols in Stem Cell Biology
- 2016- Joined the Autism Consortium led by Dr. Gene Yeo at UCSD as part of the National Cooperative Reprogrammed Cell Research Groups (NCRCRG) under NIMH/NIH
- 2016- Acquired third building to expand research and development for Allele and the Scintillon Institute
- 2016- Received additional VC funding to develop iPSC-derived cell therapies in the fields of diabetes, spinal injury, and other diseases
- 2017- Received NIA/NIH funding to develop nanoantibodies against a novel dementia-related target with collaborators in Dr. Huaxi Xu's lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute
- 2017- Published an original research article in Applied Immunohistochemistry & Molecular Morphology demonstrating the utility of modified nanoantibodies "nAb Plus", in immunohistochemistry