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The trillions of microbes that call us home – the human microbiome – perform critical functions that preserve our health including helping develop our immune system, manufacturing nutrients such as vitamins, and harvesting energy from the diet. Alterations of the human microbiome are increasingly recognized as a key factor in autoimmune, metabolic, infectious and many other diseases. For millions of years, humans have co-evolved with this community of microbes, communicating in an ancient language that holds critical clues about how autoimmune and infectious diseases develop. This language is based on a system of signals that our resident microbes use to successfully colonize us, such as byproducts of bacterial metabolism and factors that bacteria use to adapt to human niches. Recent discoveries have shown that most of these signals do not lead to disease, rather, they promote our long-term survival. Vedanta Biosciences is developing an innovative class of therapies that modulate pathways of interaction between the human microbiome and the host immune system. Vedanta Biosciences was co-founded by PureTech and a group of world renowned experts in immunology and microbiology.
Effector Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on pioneering the discovery and development of a new class of oncology drugs known as selective translation regulators (STRs). Translation is the process in cells whereby information in genetic sequences is used to direct synthesis of proteins. Each of eFFECTOR’s product candidates is designed to act on a single protein that regulates, in a coordinated manner, the expression of multiple functionally related proteins that together drive important biological processes such as immune evasion, stress and inflammatory responses. In cancer, the tightly controlled translation of specific proteins becomes dysregulated, leading to malignancy characterized by uncontrolled growth, immune evasion and metastases. eFFECTOR believes that its therapeutic approach can restore the translational control of processes which tumors have hijacked for their benefit, while preserving normal cell function.
Based in Sunnyvale, Calif., Cepheid is a leading molecular diagnostics company that is dedicated to improving healthcare by developing, manufacturing, and marketing accurate yet easy-to-use molecular systems and tests. By automating highly complex and time-consuming manual procedures, the company`s solutions deliver a better way for institutions of any size to perform sophisticated genetic testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases. Through its strong molecular biology capabilities, the company is focusing on those applications where accurate, rapid, and actionable test results are needed most, such as managing infectious diseases and cancer.
Quentis is at the forefront of the next generation of immuno-oncology companies that are translating novel biology into new therapeutic approaches to help more patients benefit from immunotherapy.
Exicure is developing a new class of immunomodulatory and gene silencing drugs against validated targets. Our 3-dimensional, spherical nucleic acid (SNA™) architecture unlocks the potential of nucleic acid therapeutics in multiple organs. Our lead programs address diseases from inflammatory disorders to oncology. SNA constructs overcome one of the most difficult obstacles to nucleic acid therapeutics: safe and effective delivery into cells and tissues. SNA constructs exhibit unparalleled transfection efficiency into numerous cell and tissue types including the skin without carriers or transfection agents. Moreover, SNAs can be used as potent immunotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer or infectious disease.