01603 000 000
omicron.cr@uea.ac.uk
About us
We provide a contract research service to help you streamline your CRISPR-Cas genome editing experiments. We focus on designing and producing gRNAs that best fit your research goals and have the highest chance of working under your experimental conditions.
Based at the University of East Anglia, we are a team that appreciates not everyone works with species or cell lines that can be easily manipulated by conventional CRISPR-Cas methods. To address this, our service helps you to identify which guide RNAs to use before you move to potentially timely and costly in-vivo trials. Find out more about our service and assay.
Our Team
Dr. Thomas Mock
Dr. Thomas Mock is a Professor at the University of East Anglia. He has worked for > 20 years in the field of Molecular Biology and Genomics with focus on eukaryotic marine microbes (algae). He was involved in many algal genome projects and together with Dr. Amanda Hopes has pioneered the development of CRISPR/Cas for genome editing in diatoms (e.g. Thalassiosira pseudonana).
Dr. Amanda Hopes
Dr. Amanda Hopes is a Senior Research Associate at the University of East Anglia and has >10 years of experience as a molecular biologist in the fields of algal microbiology and medical biotechnology. Prior to her PhD she spent 5 years in industry developing platforms for medical diagnostics. During her PhD and Post-Doc, she pioneered several reverse genetics methods for non-model organisms that were difficult to transform and to genetically engineer. This includes CRISPR-Cas in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, one of the first marine algae with an edited genome. This led to her developing the assay for testing CRISPR-Cas guide RNAs under experimentally relevant conditions. Amanda continues to work on new molecular tools for a range of microalgae including both temperate and polar species.
Dr. Nigel Belshaw
Dr. Nigel Belshaw received his PhD degree in Biochemistry from the University of East Anglia. Until recently, he led a team at the Institute for Food Research at the Norwich Research Park investigating the role of epigenetics in gut disease and the influence of lifestyle factors. Alongside his role as technician for OmicronCr, Nigel develops CRISPR/Cas genome editing tools in microalgae.
