In Depth 7 Dec 2020 Are We Still Friends? What Brexit Means for UK Synthetic Biology Synthetic biology is one of the big strengths of UK science, but can the country uphold its vantage point after Brexit, without the support of the EU? (Disclaimer: At the time of writing, no deal has been made between the UK and the EU following Brexit. This intrepid writer is an Irish citizen who made […] December 7, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 22 Jul 2020 Artificial Intelligence: A Superpower in the Fight Against Covid-19 The rapid spread of Covid-19 around the world has left drug developers with limited time to identify drug candidates to fight the virus. Amid this crisis, artificial intelligence has proven its value as a tool to make drug discovery faster and cost-effective. Drug discovery is an expensive, long-winded process. Taking a drug from discovery to […] July 22, 2020 - 8 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 Jun 2020 Chilean Biotech Moves to France to Develop Anti-Mold Food Preservative The startup Protera is moving from Santiago de Chile to Paris following a €5M Series A round that will let the company scale up the production of an antifungal protein food preservative to the pilot scale. The Series A round was led by the European venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, and will allow the company […] June 15, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Jun 2020 UK Startup Launches with €10M to Detect Epigenetic Signs of Cancer in Blood A seed round of €10.1M will fund the launch of the University of Oxford spinout Base Genomics, which aims to improve cancer detection by measuring epigenetic changes to tumor DNA circulating in the blood. The company’s oversubscribed seed funding round was led by Oxford Sciences Innovation, a local early-stage investment firm linked to the University […] June 8, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 May 2020 AI Drug Discovery Firm Exscientia Closes €54M Series C UK-based Exscientia has closed a Series C financing round of €54M ($60M) to develop its artificial intelligence (AI) technology to guide drug discovery. The Danish investor Novo Holdings led the round with its first investment in the company. Additional funding also came from existing investors including drug development company Evotec and Chinese VC firm GT […] May 29, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 15 May 2020 Synthetic Biology Could Lead to Clean Energy Using Light and Carbon Dioxide Researchers in Germany and France have combined synthetic biology with microfluidics to create artificial photosynthetic droplets, which could lead to the production of organic chemicals and clean fuels that is more efficient than nature can achieve alone. In a study recently published in Science, the research team developed an automated way to produce artificial versions […] May 15, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 7 May 2020 EU Pitches Into €7.4B Fund Supporting Covid-19 Treatments & Vaccines The European Commission and global donors have pledged €7.4 billion to a fund aimed at ensuring collaborative development and universal deployment of diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines for Covid-19. The Coronavirus Global Response pledging event is the beginning of a global fundraising marathon organized by the European Union and G20 nations in response to a World […] May 7, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Apr 2020 AskBio Takes Over French Gene Therapy Company to Treat Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s The Paris-based BrainVectis, a biotech developing gene therapies for Huntington’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, has been acquired by the US clinical-stage gene therapy company AskBio. AskBio’s gene therapy experience and manufacturing capacity will help to accelerate BrainVectis’ lead candidate for Huntington’s into phase I testing. In return, AskBio gets to expand its list of target […] April 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 28 Apr 2020 Anti-Aging Treatments at Forefront of Astellas’ €80M UK Acquisition Japanese pharma giant Astellas has acquired the UK biotech Nanna Therapeutics for up to €80M (£69.5M) in a deal to boost the development of drugs for unspecified age-related conditions and mitochondrial diseases. Through the acquisition, Astellas gains access to Nanna’s drug discovery technology, which focuses on drugs that target the mitochondria, the energy-producing machinery in […] April 28, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 24 Apr 2020 UK Startup to Manufacture Cell and Gene Therapies with Microfluidics The UK company MicrofluidX has closed a €1.6M (£1.4 M) seed funding round to develop a microfluidic platform that could produce cell and gene therapies more cheaply than conventional cell cultures. The funding round was led by UKI2S, a national seed investment fund targeting early-stage companies, as well as Longwall Ventures and Cambridge Angels. MicrofluidX […] April 24, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 9 Apr 2020 Two European Alzheimer’s Disease Treatments Show Promise in Phase II An epigenetics drug developed by the Spanish biopharmaceutical company Oryzon has reduced aggressive behavior in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and improved the experience of their caregivers in a phase IIa trial. At the same time, an Alzheimer’s vaccine developed by the Austrian biotech Axon Neuroscience has lowered a key blood biomarker of neurodegeneration by almost […] April 9, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 6 Apr 2020 UK Biotech’s Arthritis Drug Enters Study in Coronavirus Patients The UK company Izana Bioscience is freely providing its phase III-ready anti-inflammatory antibody namilumab in a compassionate use program for the treatment of patients with coronavirus disease in Italy. In severe cases of coronavirus disease, also known as Covid-19, patients experience hyperinflammation. One of the drivers of inflammation is thought to be a protein called […] April 6, 2020 - 2 minutesmins - By David Kirk Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email