GenTarget Inc

08/21/2025

Cas Enzymes at a Glance.
SpCas9 (Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9):The first and most widely used Cas enzyme. It introduces double-strand breaks (DSBs) in DNA. Mutant “nickase” versions (D10A, H840A) cut only one strand, making them valuable for reducing off-target effects or for applications like base editing.

SaCas9 (Staphylococcus aureus Cas9): A smaller Cas9, particularly well-suited for AAV delivery due to its compact size.

Cas12a (Cpf1): Unlike Cas9, Cas12a makes staggered (sticky-end) cuts instead of blunt ones. It also requires only a crRNA (no tracrRNA), making it simpler for multiplex editing.

Each Cas enzyme has a specific PAM sequence requirement (e.g., NGG for SpCas9, TTTV for Cas12a) and a distinct gRNA scaffold to ensure accurate DNA targeting. These differences guide researchers in selecting the right Cas for their experiment.

Efficient delivery of Cas enzymes is key to successful genome editing. Lentiviral expression systems provide a reliable and stable method for introducing Cas enzymes—whether SpCas9 (and its dCas9 variants), SaCas9, or Cas12a—into cells.

At Gentarget, we provide ready-to-use Cas expression lentiviruses with advanced features that make CRISPR assays simpler, faster, and more efficient than ever. Read more in link below.

https://www.gentarget.com/product-category/crispr-gene-editing/

01/13/2024

Engineered T cell therapies represent a rapidly growing and dynamic field that has garnered significant attention due to its remarkable effectiveness and breakthroughs in immunotherapy. Two widely employed methods in T cell engineering are Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T) and TCR-engineered....

06/13/2023

CRISPR based epigenomic expression regulation
CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing has emerged as a powerful tool for making genomic sequence changes. However, concerns surrounding off-target effects and undesired alterations in the genome have been raised. To address these challenges, a mutant form of Cas9 known as dCas9 (deficient Cas9 or Dead Cas9) has been developed. Unlike Cas9, dCas9 lacks the ability to cleave double-stranded DNA but can still be guided to specific genomic sites by specific RNA molecules called gRNA.

The fusion of dCas9 with various functional domains allows for precise epigenomic modifications at targeted loci, enabling the modulation of gene expression without altering the underlying DNA sequence. This CRISPR-based gene expression regulation offers several possibilities, including increasing gene expression through linked transcriptional activators (known as CRISPRa), repressing expression through linked methyltransferases for methylation (referred to as CRISPRi), introducing genomic base changes using linked APOBEC enzymes, visualizing specific genomic loci in real-time through fluorescence markers attached to tagged dCas9, and carrying out specific enzymatic reactions at targeted loci using linked enzymes.

One such tool is the “dCas9-Domain” fusion, which has proven to be invaluable for epigenomic analysis. Gentarget, a leading biotechnology company specialized lentivirus products, has developed premade lentivirus products to facilitate various applications in this field. These products have made tasks such as expression repression via KRAB, promoter methylation using different methyltransferases, genomic base changes via APOBEC, genomic base repair through reverse transcriptase, genomic frame shifting using DNA polymerase, expression activation via VP64-SunTag, p65, HSF1, GAL4, and other epigenomic modifications via different domains, easier than ever before.

By leveraging CRISPR-based epigenomic expression regulation, researchers can delve deeper into the complexities of gene regulation and gain a better understanding of how genes are controlled and influenced. We will explore the various applications and advancements in this exciting field, shedding light on the potential of CRISPR technology for epigenomic studies.

05/03/2023

Bioluminescent Imaging in Living Cells or Tissue.
Fluorescent markers and bioluminescence are two of the most commonly used methods for in vivo imaging in living cells.

Fluorescence imaging is an extremely valuable tool, but it requires external excitation from a laser light. This laser light can have drawbacks such as autofluorescence, phototoxicity, and photobleaching. On the other hand, bioluminescence imaging does not require light activation but suffers from low brightness. It is very dim and typically requires long exposure times, making it impossible to observe small, rapidly moving structures.

To overcome these barriers, an enhanced bioluminescence imaging method called Nano-Lantern was developed by Kenta Saito in 2012. This method uses a bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) approach to enhance the signal intensity of bioluminescence imaging. Nano-Lantern bioluminescence imaging has an extremely low-level background signal, making it more sensitive and quantitative. When linked to a targeting protein, Nano-Lantern emits light in response to specific biological activity, making it a great tool for visualizing specific biological activity in vivo in real-time.

GenTarget has leveraged its proprietary lentiviral vector systems to create a line of Orange Nano-Lantern Lentivirus products that enable highly sensitive and precise in vivo luminescence imaging. This cutting-edge technology represents a significant improvement over previous methods and is poised to revolutionize many applications with in vivo imaging.

10/27/2021

COVID-19 Delta Variant and other mutations:
Currently, the COVID-19 vaccine is raised from the wild-type Spike (S) protein of the virus. Theoretically, the mutation in Spike protein could reduce neutralization by antibodies generated against the wild-type Spike protein. How much is the reduction? Well, it is dependent upon the mutation position and numbers. Epidemiological data seems to suggest the current vaccines will protect you from most variants, or mutations of COVID-19. However, to answer this question and confirm the data, we need detailed lab tests to find out the quantitative results of vaccine protection against each type of variant or mutation.

The convenience tools for such tests include the Viral-like Particles (VLP) that present the COVID-19 Spike protein at the surface of the particle to mimic the nature status of the virus as well as the Lentivirus Products that express the Spike protein variants (mutants). To facilitate those tests and improve research on COVID-19 variants, Gentarget developed the Viral-like Particles (VLP) and Lentivirus Products for many COVID-19 variants/mutations. Each mutation (or combination of mutations) can be tested for its binding efficacy to the anti-Spike protein antibodies, or be used to raise variant-specific antibodies, for potential clinical treatment and applications.

09/23/2020

Virus-Like Particles (VLP) for COVID-19 Spike (S) protein: Gentarget developed the virus-like particle product line as different pseudo-typed lentiviral particles. Currently, Gentarget provides the VLP pseudo-typed with the Spike protein (S) of COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, packaged with either with eGFP (CAT #: VLP001) or firefly luciferase (CAT #: VLP002). Those VLP mimics COVID-19 structure and effectively activate human immune response, used for anti-S antibody screening, vaccine validation and more. You do not need the active, dangerous live COVID-19 virus in your assays, but the VLP will do the job.
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08/09/2020

Lately, Gentarget developed two stable cell lines that over-express human ACE2 gene in Hela cells (CAT #: SC075) or in HEK293T cells (CAT #: SC076). It constitutively expresses high level of human ACE2 gene and can be used for in vitro screening and characterization of antibodies, vaccines, or drug candidates against SARS-CoV, COVID-19 coronavirus.

07/13/2020

Gentarget developed lentivirus products that express the fusion of “Fluorescent-Histone H2B” with different color, Red Fluorescent Protein (CAT #: LVP444-R, LVP444-RB), Green Fluorescent protein (CAT #: LVP444-G), or Cyan Fluorescent Protein (CAT #: LVP444-C). Those products allow high-resolution imaging of both mitotic chromosomes and interphase chromatin, and the latter revealed various chromatin condensation states in live cells. It can directly observe the Double Minute Chromosomes (DMs) in living cells without compromising nuclear and chromosomal structures

07/12/2020

Gentarget’s Products for autophagy research
Gentarget developed lentivirus products that express Fluorescent-LC3 fusion constructs, GFP-LC3 (CAT #: LVP399-G), RFP-LC3 (CAT #: LVP399-R) or CFP-LC3 (CAT #: LVP399-C), containing the Puromycin antibiotic selection for stable cell line generation. Those products are used to monitor induction of autophagy after amino acid starvation or rapamycin treatment as well as autophagosome formation
Expression of the ‘Fluorescent-LC3’ fusion allows to visualize autophagosome formation in real time in live cells. During autophagosome formation, the fusion protein is processed and recruited to the autophagosome membrane, where it can be imaged as cytoplasmic puncta by high resolution fluorescence microscopy. The changes in percentage of Fluorescent positive cells can be determined and serves as the indicative of autophagy processing stages.

07/12/2020

Gentarget developed lentivirus products that express, human ACE2 (CAT #: LVP1310), TMPRSS2 (CAT #: LVP1309), carrying a internal Red fluorescent marker (RFP) for monitoring the lentivirus’s transduction rate, and carrying the Blasticidin antibiotic selection for stable cell line generation.
Gentarget also provide the ready-to-use lentivirus expressing the full length COVID-19 S protein (CAT #: LVP1329) and S1-RBD domain (CAT #: LVP1330). They express the humanized full-length S protein (~140 kDa) or S1-RBD (~45 kDa), carrying a poly-histidine tag at the C-terminus (6-His tag).
Simply add the lentivirus into any desired mammalian cells, your cells will express the target and you can use the cells for any cell-based assay or detection. You can also purify the mammalian expressed S protein or S1-RBD domain via Ni NTA affinity column (6His) and use them as antigens in antibody development or validation, ELISA plate detection and so on.
To present COVID-19 S protein as its native surface conformation, Gentarget also make the Viral-Like-Particle for S protein (CAT #: VLP001) and stable cell lines expressing human ACE2 receptor.

06/26/2020

Not sure what product to pick? Look this video in YouTube for some tips.

This video briefly explain what is lentivirus or lentiviral particles, and introduce Gentarget Inc who is one of leading company for providing lentivirus pro...