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MicuRx mission is to discover and develop safer and more convenient antibiotics to combat drug-resistant bacterial infections. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) infections represent a major global threat to the public health, routinely forcing the use of antibiotics with high incidence of adverse effects. To combat resistant infections, physicians may increase dosing of antibiotics, or resort to less safe agents, pushing the safety envelope. Thus, healthcare providers and regulatory agencies increasingly face a difficult choice of balancing the risk of infection against unacceptably high adverse event rates from an effective but relatively toxic antibiotic. For example, in July 2016, FDA imposed a new labeling warning on the toxicity of fluoroquinolones, further restricting the use of this essential class, exemplified by anti-pseudomonal agent ciprofloxacin. Anti-MRSA agent linezolid (Zyvox®) is often used beyond its approved 14-day therapy, resulting in several myelosuppression-associated adverse effects listed in the black box warning for this important drug. MicuRx is addressing the critical need for effective but safer therapeutics by designing novel new compounds with reduced toxicity and adverse events while maintaining excellent clinical efficacy.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies aims to disrupt the paradigm of biological analysis. Our technology and commercial model has already opened up DNA analysis to researchers who previously had no direct access to sequencing technologies, freeing them up to perform analyses in their own labs, in real time or in the field. Over time, the technology will continue to improve, new form factors of the technology will be introduced and workflows will be further simplified by new preparation techniques or analysis workflows. This technology pathway is designed to enable the analysis of any living thing, by any person, in any environment. Oxford Nanopore has developed the worlds first and only nanopore DNA sequencer, the MinION. The MinION is a portable, real time, long-read, low cost device that has been designed to bring easy biological analyses to anyone, whether in scientific research, education or a range of real world applications such as disease/pathogen surveillance, environmental monitoring, food chain surveillance, self-quantification or even microgravity biology. Commercially available since 2015, the MinION is in use by a thriving community of scientists in >50 countries, where it is enabling myriad applications within the traditional laboratory environment and in the field. Nanopore sensing technology is fully scalable. The GridION X5 is a desktop device that includes compute module and the ability to run up to five MinION Flow Cells. The the high-throughput/sample number PromethION is currently being released in the PromethION Early Access Programme (PEAP). Oxford Nanopore is focused on making DNA based analyses easy enough for any user and so we are working to simplify the sample preparation and data analysis processes. For sample preparation this includes a 5-10 minute sample prep kit, and VolTRAX (in development), a rapid, programmable, portable, disposable sample preparation device designed to prepare DNA for addition to a nanopore sequencing device.
Quadrant Biosciences is an epigenetic diagnostics company with a focus on the early detection of neurological disorders and other large-scale health issues. Revolutionary advancements in the early detection of autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and mTBI, through the application of the Clarifi® epigenetic diagnostic platform, could have a significant impact on the way clinicians approach the diagnosis and treatment of these serious conditions. In March 2020, we made the decision to pivot and allocate some of our resources to directly address the pandemic. By leveraging our expertise in RNA analysis, we have been able to be part of three exciting COVID-19 projects to aid in the detection of COVID-19 in individuals and communities across the U.S.
Terumo Interventional Systems is a Somerset, NJ-based company in the Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech sector.
Boundless Bio, a San Diego based company backed by ARCH Venture Partners, is discovering and developing novel cancer therapeutics based on the role of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA) in driving tumorigenesis, resistance and recurrence. When DNA in cancer cells comes off chromosomes, “extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA),” it becomes unbound and unwound, thereby enabling numerous copies of cancer-causing genes, driving cancer cells to grow and allowing them to resist treatment. At Boundless Bio, we are counterattacking this ecDNA phenomenon with boundless innovation and boundless energy to develop powerful new cancer medicines that eliminate cancer cells’ ability to employ ecDNA to survive.