Freelancer wins US$6.7m task order with NASA and the National Institutes of Health in gene editing

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - News Direct - 29 September 2022 - Freelancer Limited (ASX: FLN, OTCQX: FLNCF), the world’s largest freelancing and crowdsourcing marketplace by number of users and jobs posted, today announced it has won a US$6.7 million task order for NASA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of the Director (OD) Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC).

NIH seeks two, three-phased contests to encourage technology development in two areas of strategic significance as part of Phase II of the NIH Somatic Cell Genome Editing (SCGE) program:

1. A highly efficient (e.g. 50%+ editing efficiency) non-viral delivery system capable of crossing the blood brain barrier to deliver genome editing machinery to a majority of target cell types in the central nervous system.
   
   
2. A programmable (e.g. 3+ configurations) delivery system to deliver genome editing machinery that can target specific tissues or cell types.
   
   

Somatic cell genome editing holds great promise in treating various diseases. However, current techniques in genome editing approaches, such as those based on CRISPR-Cas9, pose many challenges that need to be overcome before they can be widely used in the clinic. For example, the delivery of genome editors to clinically relevant cells and tissues and achievement of editing efficiency that is adequate for addressing human diseases.

These contests will be administered under the America COMPETES Act and will be launched on Freelancer.com with a total prize purse of US$6,000,000 (GMV).

This is the biggest task order to date under NASA’s NOIS2 and to be selected is testimony to the company’s track record of delivery to date under the program. It is expected that FLN will generate approximately US$700,000 in net revenue contribution for this task order.