Camella Wilson, PhD

BacStich DNA CSO Sasha Levy, PhD, is at SynBioBeta's Synthetic Biology Conference in San Jose this week to speak on the MITRE sponsored panel "BioNet: Creating a Distributed SynBio Ecosystem for Everyone" on May 8th from 1:45-2:30. Come by and say hi! SynBioBeta MITRE #syntheticbiology #dnasynthesis

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Excellent way to spend 1 minute, 30 seconds. DSO shares via an embedded video in the article below how Modality.AI is making an impact with patients. It is wonderful to have NIH SEED as a partner on this journey. Relentless Venture Fund David "DSO" Suendermann-Oeft #Neurotech #AI #BIO2024 #precisionmedicine #clinicaltrials #healthtech #healthcare #digitalhealth

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Artiva Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage NK cell therapy biotech, is trying again for the public markets, it revealed Friday afternoon in an #SEC filing. The San Diego biotech is going for a Nasdaq debut but in a very different biotech financing environment than when it originally sought an #IPO in the spring of 2021, at a time when large public floats were easier to achieve thanks to low interest rates and generalist investors’ intrigue in drug development. And this time around, it’s without partner Merck, which axed their CAR-NK solid tumor collaboration last October, according to Friday’s S-1 filing. #NKcelltherapy #celltherapy #cellandgenetherapy #advancedtherapies #publicmarkets #biotech #biotechnology #financing #funding #lifescience #lifesciences #IPOs #solidtumors #bloodcancers #autoimmunedisease GC Cell 5AM Ventures venBio RA Capital Management

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Check out some of the elements of Nimbus Therapeutics’ secret sauce as explained by our own Daniel Price and Leela Sriram Dodda!

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By leveraging AI with vast genetic databases, we are not only quickening the pace of identifying potential drug targets but also enhancing the accuracy of clinical diagnostics and predictive modeling. Recently, I had the privilege of discussing the profound impact AI is having on pharmaceutical R&D with Kim Branson, GSK's SVP Global Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Listen on Raising Health: https://lnkd.in/g6QUm2-A

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🚀 Big News in Biopharma! 🚀 Profluent is making waves at the intersection of biotech and AI. Their innovative approach promises to revolutionize gene editing, and they're doing it with a bold move: open-sourcing their work! 🌐🔬 Introducing OpenCRISPR 🧬 Profluent's OpenCRISPR initiative is set to provide customizable gene-editing proteins designed entirely by AI. Imagine AI-generated CRISPR-like proteins that have never been seen before, capable of editing the human genome with unparalleled precision. 🔍 Highlights: AI-Powered: Trained on vast databases of protein sequences, Profluent's AI can generate hundreds of thousands of CRISPR-like proteins. OpenCRISPR-1: Their top-performing AI-created gene editor boasts 400+ mutations compared to CRISPR-Cas9, reducing off-target editing by 95% and keeping unwanted genetic changes below 1%. Why This Matters Attempting to edit human DNA with AI-designed systems is nothing short of a scientific moonshot. Profluent's success points to a future where AI can design bespoke cures for diseases, democratizing gene editing. 🔬 Real-World Impact: While AI-designed drugs have been in clinical testing for years, CRISPR tech just got its FDA green light last year with Casgevy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. These treatments show the incredible potential of gene editing to transform lives. Open Collaboration Profluent invites researchers to test and provide feedback on OpenCRISPR-1. Their goal is to partner with top research institutions and drug developers to expedite the development of new genetic therapies, ensuring safe and ethical practices. Recent Milestones $35M Funding: Backed by Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, and top angel investors from OpenAI, Salesforce, and Google. Join the Revolution This is a watershed moment in gene editing. Profluent is not just pushing the boundaries of what's possible; they’re opening the doors for global collaboration. Let's build the next generation of genetic medicines together! 👉 Read more and get involved: https://lnkd.in/gN9p-H6j #GeneEditing #CRISPR #AI #Biotech #OpenSource #Innovation #Profluent #HealthcareRevolution

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Great to catch up with Ron Leuty at San Francisco Business Times at #BIO2024: When Moonwalk Biosciences Inc. CEO Alex Aravanis MD PhD started his presentation at the BIO convention in San Diego earlier this week, he saw a standing-room-only crowd, and after his 15-minute talk he was peppered with questions. In more formal meetings with potential partners, Aravanis faced more questions. "I think there's a lot of people who are curious about (epigenetics)" — how DNA modifications can be passed cell to cell — "curious about the capabilities, how mature it is," Aravanis said. "In the partnering meetings, there're folks who have an immediate use for it, and there are folks who said, 'Look, we reached out to you because we realized this is an exciting new area.'" The ability to spread a company's scientific message with hundreds, if not thousands, of people in a few days is why companies come to the Biotechnology Innovation Organization's annual convention, which closes today in San Diego. More than 20 Bay Area life sciences companies were scheduled among the scores making formal presentations in tiny "theaters" on the convention's exhibit floor, such as South San Francisco's Moonwalk, or in BIO's "Startup Stadium." Read the article (subscription required): https://lnkd.in/eTEdgDEa

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Despite challenges in the IPO market in 2021, the biotechnology sector is resilient and showing signs of recovery. Tempus led the way last week. Congratulations to all stakeholders at Tempus! This period of turbulence urges biotech firms to strategically focus on building strong data foundations, which will not only attract investments but also pave the way for sustainable growth and innovation. Embracing uncertainty as an opportunity for innovation and skill development could redefine leadership in biotech, fostering a culture of resilience and adaptability crucial for sustained success in a rapidly evolving industry landscape. #Biotech #Leadership

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#LanternPharma announced a strategic AI-driven collaboration with #OregonTherapeutics to optimize the development of its first-in-class protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) (1) inhibitor drug candidate XCE853 in novel and targeted cancer indications. https://shorturl.at/alnoZ #TechNews #StayInformed #StayAhead #dailydose #followus #staytuned #stayconnected #technews #technology #trending #trendingnow #trendingnews #explore #explorepage #techdogs

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Roche's recent decision to offload their Vacaville facility highlights the increasing importance of cell line productivity in biomanufacturing strategy. According to Dan Stanton of Bioprocess Insider, Roche is moving towards more high titer processes and products with lower volume demands. (You can read the article here https://lnkd.in/erRx597k) Agile manufacturing strategies are enabled by cell line productivity, which allows for the same amount of drug substance to be produced in smaller bioreactors. This, in turn, allows for smaller clean rooms and lower running costs. Just - Evotec Biologics' J.CHO High Expression System cell lines, grown in perfusion bioreactors, produce over 4 g/L of antibody each day, equivalent to around 30 g/L in fed-batch mode (https://lnkd.in/eexeJrQA). This level of productivity allows for commercial quantities of antibody to be manufactured in 1000L single-use bioreactors in our modular J.POD facilities. As a result, large-scale stainless-steel facilities are becoming redundant. The future of biomanufacturing lies in maximizing cell line productivity, and our J.CHO system is leading the way. #biomanufacturing #celllineproductivity #JCHO #JPod #agilemanufacturing 👨‍⚕️Philip Boehme

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Excited to share Nabla Bio is collaborating with 3 of the largest pharma companies in the world to use integrated AI & wet-lab tech to design antibodies to some of the most challenging and underserved targets. Thrilled to also add Radical Ventures to the Nabla family, who led our $26M Series A. Press release: https://bit.ly/4dDk4lP So far, AI in drug design hasn’t had the greatest track record. Earlier this week, this article from Derek Lowe talked about how most targets people are going after with AI are not particularly new, and maybe made incrementally easier to drug with AI. http://bit.ly/3QNo6OF As an industry, we should instead be asking what are the actual problems in drug development where AI could force a seachange? At Nabla, we believe multipass membrane proteins are the most compelling opportunity. These complex targets account for over 2/3 of all cell surface receptors, but are the focus of <10% of drug development effort today. Why? The reason is drugging these receptors requires an exceptionally high-degree of atomic precision, which traditional discovery can’t do, but generative modeling can! At Nabla, we’re advancing these techniques to improve their atomic accuracy, and increase the rate at which we can obtain target and conformation selective antibodies. At the same time, we don’t believe AI will be enough. The training data we have for AI are devoid of the larger biological context of the cell, tissues, and the entire organism the drug must function in. So, it’s critical we couple AI to human-relevant measurements of drug performance. Pushing our wet lab in this direction is the other arm of R&D at Nabla. If we succeed, we double the number of disease-relevant targets the industry can go after. Many of these targets need more study and research, but the molecules being built at Nabla can be used to facilitate this target discovery too! Surge Biswas will be giving a podium talk at PEGS Boston (https://bit.ly/4dG1SYD) tomorrow sharing some promising results in opening up these difficult targets. Check it out- Since the beginning of Nabla, we've believed that building new technology is the only way to solve these hard drug design problems. New technology is best built by intense, small, highly technical teams & this is a core element of our culture. That said, between our partnerships and research we have too much to do :P - we're hiring! (nabla.bio/careers) Last thing; Nabla is a technology company and we are taking a different bet to most other biotechs. We believe being partner-focused and working with expert drug developers will maximize the patient impact of our platform. Revenue and insights from these collaborations are helping us grow more sustainably and build focused technology to solve real problems in drug design. Thanks to Zetta Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, Fifty Years, Cantos, Boom Capital, Y Combinator for doubling down this round and continuing to believe in the mission! Onwards / back to work.

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InduPro raised an $85M series A (https://lnkd.in/gnPMq2pP). Exciting to see protein sequencing + AI enabling the discovery of new protein-led cancer treatments. "Our MInt platform leverages deep learning analysis of proprietary protein microenvironment and membrane proteomic data to define the architecture of the cell surface proteome across different target classes and indications. This allows us to identify novel targets and co-target pairs for selective tumor targeting (bispecifc ADCs and TCEs) or immunological synapse modulation (bi/multispecific mAbs)."

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The closest rival of Illumina has raised $277 Million to Expand Innovative Sequencing and Multi-Omics Technologies. Element Biosciences has raised over $277 million in a Series D bringing total capital up to over $680 million. The new capital will support the expansion of Element Biosciences' global customer base and the advancement of its technological offerings. Central to these efforts is the AVITI™ benchtop DNA sequencer, which has been rapidly adopted since its release. Additionally, the company plans to launch AVITI24™, an instrument designed to integrate sequencing with cyto-profiling. This technology allows for the simultaneous examination of DNA, RNA, proteins, phosphoproteins, and cell structure within single cells, offering researchers comprehensive insights into biological systems. The market of NGS is heating up with a number of potential competitors to Illumina, which is currently dominates the market. Read about the companies to watch in the NGS space (link in the comments) Subscribe to Where Tech Meets Bio (Substack Newsletter) for weekly tech+bio roundup. #NGS #nextgenerationsequencing #omics #bigdata #biopharmatrend Image credit: iStock

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I’m thrilled to announce the launch of Radar Therapeutics, dedicated to making programmable, safe, "smart" #mRNA-based therapies that only get activated in the right cells, at the right time. Working with Katherine Jones, Sarah Chesemore, and others at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we witnessed how Moderna and BioNTech SE/Pfizer catapulted mRNA therapies onto the world stage with unprecedented speed, saving millions of lives.   At Radar, we want to bring this promise beyond vaccines into the most complex therapeutic compartments by solving one of the biggest problems for these therapies: making sure these mRNAs only reprogram the right cells in the body, avoiding potentially toxic off-target effects. We are committed to making therapies with the highest bar of safety, and widely accessible to patients that need them. I was incredibly lucky to meet my co-founder Eerik Kaseniit (thank you Anna-Julia Storch), while at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Eerik was obsessed with the problem of precisely targeted, timely and controlled regulation of mRNA translation. Alongside Stanford Prof Xiaojing Gao and MIT Prof Jim Collins, we decided to direct those efforts towards saving lives by starting Radar Therapeutics. We attracted the brilliant minds Svetlana Lucas, David Schaffer, and Eric Klein along the way. We are grateful to NFX, Eli Lilly and Company, Biovision Ventures, and KdT Ventures for taking the lead on this round, alongside BEVC, Pear VC, ARTIS Ventures, Ten VC, Elementum Ventures, Emcure Pharmaceuticals Limited, SALT, Conscience VC, and more. Here’s to a future where we can program therapies to rewrite any disease with utmost safety and accuracy. I’ll be at #BIO2024 for anyone looking to connect! Sharing some information about the company here: Endpoints News - https://lnkd.in/g4MQT245 Firstword Pharma - https://lnkd.in/gq3heWsE Genetic Engineering News - https://lnkd.in/gNPDfHEs Chemical & Engineering News - https://lnkd.in/gUx8ijmY Longevity Technology - https://lnkd.in/gRwdtiKx PBR- https://lnkd.in/gvUG_c5M Businesswire - https://lnkd.in/gcv88QAM Alix Marduel Vasudev Bailey Asset Abdualiyev Shan-Lyn Ma Wesley Barrow Pioneer Fund Jackie Benson Shannon Dahl Jackie Papkoff, Ph.D. Nat Kolber Jon Levin Ilya Strebulaev StartX Ron Boger Howard Rosen

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In the bid to lock up patent rights to a growing suite of gene editing technologies, Arbor Biotechnologies has acquired a small startup founded by #MIT scientist and #CRISPR pioneer Feng Z., the company exclusively told Endpoints News. Zhang’s startup, Serendipity Bioscience, has never disclosed how much funding it raised, and Arbor — which Zhang also co-founded — wouldn’t say how much it paid. But Arbor now holds the keys to four new families of gene editing enzymes discovered in Zhang’s lab in recent years, each the subject of major scientific publications. #geneediting #cellandgenetherapy #advancedtherapy #biotech #biotechnology Devyn Smith #clinicaltrials #genetherapy #startup #patents #competitivepositioning #funding #financing #nextgen #lifesciences #advancingmedicine Serendipity Bio #acquisitions #mergersandacquisitions #competitiveadvantage #enzymes

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Innovative work by Profluent Bio, showcasing AI's potential in gene editing. At Rejuve.Bio, we see aligning with such AI advancements as crucial for developing next-generation therapies. What's next? Learn more about Rejuve.Bio and our crowdfund here bit.ly/rjvbcrowdfund https://lnkd.in/gPZ62rd5

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My review of Jamie Metzl’s new book ‘Superconvergence: How the Genetics, Biotech, and AI Revolutions Will Transform Our Lives, Work, and World’, published in today’s edition of Science magazine. We are entering a new age of AI-informed, ‘big data’ inspired, genome design and synthesis that will be dominated by two convergent exponential technologies: generative AI, and genome writing - the ability to design and synthesize DNA at the scale of whole genomes. Together these technologies will eventual transform biology into a predictive engineering material, and enable it to be forward engineered. When we eventually learn the ‘rules of biology’, and the complete ‘generative grammar’ of biological systems, we will be able to author new genomes. Sustainable, biologically inspired designs will impact almost every area of human existence, from healthcare, to bioenergy, biocomputing, materials science, agriculture, and beyond. Used responsibly, such technologies have the potential to address some of the existential issues challenging humankind, such as climate change, and the global loss of habitats and biodiversity. What we are missing is a ‘North Star’ to guide us. Literally, a manifesto for life.

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