Eliza Llewellyn

Will the ROI on #gene therapies make these costly treatments worthwhile for the biopharma industry? The CEOs of bluebird bio and CRISPR Therapeutics answered that question during a recent talk with a resounding 'yes.'

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Curie.Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based biotech accelerator that aims to “free the founders,” has raised a $380 million fund mainly to support nascent startups that graduate from its program. The fund, disclosed Wednesday morning, brings the firm’s total capital haul to nearly $1 billion. A “majority” of the latest raise will go toward Series A rounds in drug developers that it has helped shepherd toward the clinic. Alexis Borisy, Zach Weinberg and Christoph Lengauer unveiled a $520 million round in February 2023 from GV (Google Ventures), Casdin Capital, LLC, ARCH Venture Partners, a16z Bio + Health and Nextech Invest Ltd. The firm is devoting about $270 million of that to seed investing and the remainder to setting up an R&D services arm to help entrepreneurs bring their experimental plans to fruition and get to the clinic relatively quickly. #accelerator #38mfund #startups #earlystage #investing #funding #financing #celltherapy #genetherapy #geneediting #cellandgenethreapy #advancedtherapies #biotech #biotechnolgy #lifesciences #lifescience #healthcare #seriesA #seedinvesting #researchanddevelopment #entrepreneurs

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Biotechs are now almost fully digital, but they're using multiple pieces of software to accomplish their drug discovery goals. It's understandable, people like what they like. Though, as a company, decisions should made to benefit the whole. Why not deliver on that? Revvity Signals is delivering on a longstanding desire within this space. An agnostic, one-suite-fits-all, platform that covers the entirety of your drug discovery workflow. No stones were left unturned in the development of this suite. Our customers know this & we're incredibly excited to continue delivering on the model that makes Revvity Signals run. Here's just one of the newest features added to the Revvity Signals Suite. Our Sponsor to Contractor (CRO, CMO, CDMO) solution.

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Join PsychoGenics at Upcoming Industry Conferences in Boston! Next week, our team will be participating in two major conferences in Boston, presenting our latest research in neurodegenerative and rare diseases. 🧠 12th Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Drug Development Summit (April 24-25) Dive into the latest advancements in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's research. Don't miss the presentation by Christina Torturo, Senior Scientist at PsychoGenics, on alpha-synuclein mouse models. Also, explore our poster session on Alzheimer’s disease research featuring the rTg4510 mouse model. 🌍 World Orphan Drug Congress (April 23-25) Connect with Dr. Emer Leahy, our CEO, to discuss our innovative approaches in supporting rare disorder research. 📅 We’re eager to explore how our expertise can help advance your projects. Contact us at info@psychogenics.com to set up a meeting or learn more about our capabilities. #Neuroscience #DrugDevelopment #Alzheimers #Parkinsons #ADPDSummit #RareDiseases #OrphanDrugCongress #preclinicalresearch

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The US meat industry produces 100 billions pounds of meat every year. That's the equivalent of 137 Empire State buildings - of meat 🤯 . And unfortunately, while meat is very tasty, it's also one of the most polluting, destructive, and cruel industries on our beautiful planet.   At Tender Food, we are developing technologies and products to provide simple and sustainable plant-based alternatives to animal meat, but (1) recreating alternatives to become indistinguishable from meat is technically REALLY hard and (2) will require us to scale MASSIVELY to have any sort of meaningful impact.   While we are hard at work here at Tender, successfully transforming the meat industry into a sustainable one will require engagement and support from ALL stakeholders, including our government. Back in 2009, it successfully catalyzed the EV revolution with bankruptcy-avoiding loans to Tesla and hopefully a lot more now with the Inflation Reduction Act.   We are thankful for the amazing work Governor Healey's administration is doing to fund climate action right here in Massachusetts - hopefully, with dollars specifically earmarked for alternative protein to support fundamental research, capital-intensive infrastructure development, and direct investments into startups. This could help establish our state as an alternative protein industry hub, create many of jobs along the way, and realize the full potential of this industry. 

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Great to see our Washington Competes winner Theresa Deisher of AVM Biotechnology at the National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research BIO booth. Suggest heading over to learn about how AVM Biotechnology is developing and advancing AVM0703, a proprietary formulation of concentrated dexamethasone. This formulation permits the very high dosing necessary to activate the release and trigger the production of the body’s supercharged gamma delta TCR+ invariant TCR+ bispecific T lymphocytes and Natural Killer T-like immune cells. These TCR bispecific immune cells have unique immune response properties in comparison to ordinary T-cells and rapidly appear following a single AVM0703 dose. Pre-clinical and clinical data indicate that these cells could play a significant role in several diseases and conditions.

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Life Science Washington member Truly Technologies Samuel Chen is at National Institutes of Health Office of Extramural Research booth at BIO. Truly Technologies has developed a simple and efficient bioprocessing solution to concentrate biomolecules at high yield and purity. Truly's technology uses osmotic pressure difference across a semipermeable membrane to simultaneously concentrate and purify biomolecules of interest. The technology can be applied to address a wide range of bioprocessing challenges from diagnostic biomarker concentration to therapeutic nanoparticle purification. I think you will enjoy a conversation to see where they are taking this innovation. https://lnkd.in/dBx3qYV3

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Nice to see the xCELLigence technology among the tools in this bioPROTAC template for efficient intracellular protein degradation.

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Genomic newborn screening holds immense potential for saving lives. By enabling early detection of rare diseases, genomic sequencing significantly enhances treatment outcomes and saves lives through timely interventions. In this interview, Director of Prenatal Medical Genetics and Associate Director of Research, Massachusetts General Brigham Personalized Medicine, Boston, Nina Gold delves into her research on genomic newborn sequencing, offering expert insights on the feasibility of implementing this for all newborns and the necessary infrastructure to achieve it. Read the full interview here: https://hubs.la/Q02zYyjK0 #NeonatalCare #RareDiseases #GenomicSequencing

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Cypris Therapeutics, Inc., a drug discovery company, secures over $500K in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Ichor Life Sciences, Inc., a Syracuse-based contract #research organization. In addition to having access to Ichor’s equipment and knowledge of drug discovery and #development, Cypris will be incubated at Ichor’s facilities. The money will be used by the business to grow both its operations and growth initiatives. Cypris Therapeutics, led by CEO Kyle Parella, uses patented technology to synthesise and repeatedly produce complicated small molecule moieties that were previously unachievable for scientists. Read more - https://lnkd.in/g4G_pqXe To share your startup story write us on - contact@startuprise.io #CyprisTherapeutics #technology #incubated #fundraising #funding #news #startup

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Formation Bio's Melanie Hullings and Laura Fazio, MS will be presenting at PHUSE on July 25th in Pennsylvania. We hope to see you there! -- In the era of AI and advanced analytics propelling data management forward at an exponential rate, partnership between Clinical Data Managers and Clinical Data Scientists is critical. Laura and Mel will discuss how these teams at Formation Bio work together to create fit-for-purpose tools to automate data cleaning, reporting and analytics. They will also share perspectives on where AI-driven solutions will fit into the clinical data ecosystem and solicit feedback on the gaps that still need filling to support real-time data-driven decisions. More confernece details here: https://rb.gy/r2yctv #datascience #biotech #pharma #drugdevelopment #clinicaltrials #clinicaldatamanagement

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🌟 Exciting Announcement 🌟 Don't miss Dr. Judy Lieberman's groundbreaking talk on "Immune Editing: How Tumors Evade Immune Surveillance" at Boston Children's Hospital. Join this interesting talk on April 26th to explore new insights into cancer immunology: During early tumorigenesis tumors edit their gene expression to evade immune surveillance. Because of difficulty capturing early tumors, studies of tumor immunoediting have to date mostly investigated changes in expression of candidate genes involved in activating adaptive immunity, such as those needed for antigen presentation and processing. I will describe a study we did using single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) in a genetically engineered mouse model (GEMM) of aggressive breast cancer to identify tumor edited genes without bias. Comparison of early and late tumors identified repressed genes involved in innate immune defense in the tumor, changes in infiltrating immune cells and in tumor-immune cell communication. Genes participating in immune signaling, especially innate immune defenses involving Type I and II interferons (IFN) and interferon stimulated genes (ISG) dominated the genes repressed in the tumor. The data captured the evolution of immune cell exhaustion in early tumorigenesis. Naïve and activated CD8 T cells in early tumors were replaced with CD8 T cells that had reduced expression of activation and effector proteins, chemokines and adhesion molecules and increased expression of multiple checkpoint inhibitors, characteristics of cells that were exhausted or becoming exhausted. Communication between the tumor and infiltrating lymphocytes was strongly reduced in late tumors. Thus, tumor editing during early tumorigenesis focuses on tumor cell immune editing to make the tumor invisible to the immune system, more than on increasing its intrinsic proliferative capacity. Date: April 26 Time: 12:00 PM–1:00 PM Venue: Amphitheater, 1st Floor, J.A.-DeSève Pavilion Open invitation by Dr. Christopher Rudd. All are welcome! #Research #Cancer #TumorImmunology #Science #Seminar

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Check out this electric insight from one of our #myUEGcommunity Rising Stars, Olga P. Nyssen! ⭐ UEG Rising Star Awards are annually given to 10 of the most promising, emerging scientists 🏆 🏆 Access publication, European Registry on Helicobacter pylori management (Hp-EuReg): patterns and trends in first-line empirical eradication prescription and outcomes of 5 years and 21 533 patients ➡️ https://bit.ly/4c1kIIy

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Don't miss this Quirk's Media New York session on July 18th! 📅 Our very own Scott Worthge will be speaking alongside Dr. Jake Beniflah from the Center for Multicultural Science. Discover how the demographic shift in the US, where minorities are becoming the majority, is changing consumer attitudes and perceptions across racial and ethnic groups. Learn from original research about reverse acculturation and its implications for marketing strategies. This session is a must-attend for anyone interested in the future of MR and brand strategy! We look forward to seeing you there 😀 #quirksny #brandstrategy #insights

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MassBioDrive harnesses the power of MassBio’s global life sciences network to help new founders launch their biotech startups. We announced our #MassBioDrive Spring 2024 Cohort back in March, and as we near the end of the eight-week program, we are highlighting our five emerging biotech companies chosen to participate. Today, please meet Nucyrna Therapeutics! Q: Tell us about your company and what you’re developing. What are you most excited about? A: Nucyrna Therapeutics aims to redefine RNA-targeting therapeutics by co-targeting nuclear and cytoplasmic RNAs. Nucyrna’s oligonucleotide platform enables a superior therapeutics index for single RNA silencing and can serve as a dual-RNA targeting platform. With our lead programs targeting ALS, we are working to address the huge unmet medical needs in CNS disorders in our rapid aging society. I’m most excited about developing disease-modifying therapies for these patients. Q: What advice do you have for other biotech companies just getting started? A: It’s never too early to talk to advisors such as serial entrepreneurs for advice. MassBioDrive is an amazing mentorship program helping entrepreneurs figure out challenges at the early stage. Q: What has been most impactful or surprising to you since joining the MassBioDrive program? A: The most impactful thing is we have decided our leading two programs based on our oligonucleotide platform technology with the guidance from MassBioDrive program mentors. Learn more about Nucyrna Therapeutics: https://www.nucyrnatx.com/ Learn more about MassBioDrive: https://lnkd.in/eAEMRZ-b Damon (Feng) Wang, PhD

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MassBioDrive harnesses the power of MassBio’s global life sciences network to help new founders launch their biotech startups. We announced our #MassBioDrive Spring 2024 Cohort back in March, and as we near the end of the eight-week program, we are highlighting our five emerging biotech companies chosen to participate. Today, please meet Anita Scheuber and Hestia Therapeutics! Q: Tell us about your company and what you’re developing. What are you most excited about? A: At Hestia, we are developing the aNKor platform of tri-specific, tri-funtional immunocytokines that engage the adaptive AND innate immune system to very effectively attack cancer cells. Our approach is a targeted delivery of potent cytokines into the tumor microenvironment that is safer for patients compared to naked cytokines. Q: What advice do you have for other biotech companies just getting started? A: Surround yourself with a diverse group of people that bring industry relevant expertise to complement your own. Q: What has been most impactful or surprising to you since joining the MassBioDrive program? A: The Biotech hub in the Boston area remains strong, innovative and daring - it is just fantastic to learn through the MassBioDrive program that the immense resources, support and entrepreneurship still exists. It is truly inspiring and humbling to receive all that encouragement. Learn more about Hestia Therapeutics: https://hestiatx.com/ Learn more about MassBioDrive: https://lnkd.in/eAEMRZ-b

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Excited to share that Waypoint Bio has emerged from stealth to turbocharge drug discovery using *in vivo* spatial pooled screening tech with $14.5 million in financing, led by Hummingbird Ventures, with participation from other investors, including Recode Ventures and pre-seed lead Fifty Years. Pooled screening is an incredibly powerful technology for drug discovery, but it’s historically been limited to measuring simple cell phenotypes, such as growth or drug resistance. This limits the technology’s value in more complex diseases where interactions between cells and their environment are key, including T cell interactions with solid tumor cancers, such as pancreatic and gastric cancer. Our platform turbocharges traditional pooled screening by leveraging #spatialbiology to generate complex, multivariate and spatial readouts for every perturbation, and quickly generate novel drug candidates with a greater probability of clinical success. We will use the financing toward first designing CAR T-cell therapies with superior efficacy against the tumor microenvironment, and later, Treg therapies for autoimmune diseases, and advance them in partnership with biotech and pharma and on our own. Thanks to Ryan Cross for speaking with me and David Phizicky for Endpoints News about our platform, the first to combine pooled screening and spatial biology for drug discovery, and to our awesome investors for supporting our work to bring new therapies to the underserved! https://lnkd.in/eV_hc3Y9

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The Philadelphia chromosome (BCR-ABL1 fusion gene) produces an abnormal protein crucial in the development of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), Chronic Neutrophilic Leukemia (CNL), and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Despite being a small piece of genetic information, its impact is enormous. Identifying the BCR-ABL1 gene allows medical professionals to make more accurate diagnoses and provide targeted treatments. #bcrablgene #genetics #leukemia #research #knowledge #Leukemia #CML #ALL #CNL #bcrabl #tyrosinekinase #mutation #translocation #bcrabltest #diagnosis #medical #professionals #therapies

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