INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Serotiny | March 01, 2022
Serotiny, a leader in high-throughput therapeutic Multi-Domain Protein engineering, and Tessera Therapeutics, a biotechnology company pioneering a new approach in genetic medicines known as Gene Writing technology, today announced a collaboration to engineer programmable Gene Writer proteins. This collaboration will build on Tessera’s innovations in genome engineering technologies and apply Serotiny’s tMDP mining and design expertise to further optimize Tessera’s programmable Gene Writer proteins, capable of making diverse and directed alterations to the genome.
“We’re extremely excited to be working with the Tessera team. It provides Serotiny a unique opportunity to extend the validation of our platform and to continue to advance our efforts in discovering and developing proteins with novel function for the purpose of enhancing the therapeutic utility of next-generation genetic medicines.”
Colin Farlow, J.D., Serotiny’s CEO
Tessera’s Gene Writer candidates can allow the substitution, insertion, or deletion of DNA sequences, as well as the writing of entire genes into the genome, offering the potential for a new category of genetic medicines. By partnering with Serotiny, Tessera will have the ability to identify, screen, and optimize a variety of proteins that can serve as the foundation of future Gene Writer therapies across a variety of disease states.
“Tessera’s mission is to cure disease by writing in the code of life and we’re committed to continuously innovating to improve and expand our Gene Writing platform,” said Geoffrey von Maltzahn, PhD, co-founder and CEO of Tessera. “Our R&D engine seeks to learn from billions of years of mobile genetic element evolution to generate novel Gene Writing systems with the ability to solve important challenges in genetic medicine. Serotiny’s multi-domain engineering expertise has the potential to further optimize our Gene Writer protein libraries and we’re delighted to partner with the Serotiny team.”
Under terms of the agreement Serotiny will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for certain future consideration, contingent upon the collaboration achieving pre-specified performance thresholds.
About Serotiny
Serotiny is a pre-clinical discovery company building better gene and cell therapies through high-throughput engineering of therapeutic Multi-Domain Proteins (tMDP) such as Chimeric Antigen Receptors (CARs), CAR alternatives, accessory proteins, and next generation gene editors. At the heart of Serotiny’s technology is a discovery platform that harmonizes computationally aided protein design, high-throughput cellular assays, and next generation sequencing. Serotiny’s platform enables a cross disciplinary approach to engineering large and often unstructured multi-domain proteins, applying expertise from synthetic biology, immunology, machine learning, software engineering and bioinformatics.
About Tessera’s Gene Writer platform
Tessera’s Gene Writer proteins are based on nature’s genome architects, Mobile Genetic Elements (MGEs)—the most abundant class of genes across the tree of life, representing approximately half of the human genome. Tessera has evaluated tens of thousands of natural and synthetic MGEs to create Gene Writer candidates in multiple categories including
RNA Gene Writer proteins that use target-primed reverse transcription (TPRT), which evolved in a class of MGEs known as retrotransposons. TPRT uses three steps to make an alteration: DNA-binding, DNA-nicking (without double strand breaks to DNA), and reverse transcription. Tessera’s Gene Writing technology requires a DNA sequence match at all three steps, reducing the likelihood of off-target editing. Tessera’s Gene Writer components can be delivered as therapeutic compositions comprised of RNA molecules within lipid nanoparticles, offering the potential for scalable, re-dosable genetic medicines with the ability to make the full spectrum of small and large edits to genome, from single or multi-base pair corrections, insertions, deletions, to writing entire genes.
DNA Gene Writer proteins are derived from recombinases and integrases and enable permanent integration of whole-gene sequences, delivered as DNA, into the genome without the introduction of double-strand breaks. This opens up the potential for treating pediatric patients leveraging validated delivery modalities
Tessera’s research engine further optimizes the discovered Gene Writer candidates for efficiency, specificity, and fidelity—essentially compressing eons of evolution into a few months.
About Tessera Therapeutics
Tessera Therapeutics is pioneering Gene Writing technology, which consists of multiple technology platforms designed to offer scientists and clinicians the ability to write therapeutic messages into the human genome, thereby curing diseases at their source. The Gene Writing platform allows the correction of single nucleotides, the deletion or insertion of short sequences of DNA, and the writing of entire genes into the genome, offering the potential for a new category of genetic medicines with broad applications both in vivo and ex vivo. Tessera Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences enterprise that conceives, resources, and develops first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability.
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INDUSTRIAL IMPACT
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. | January 28, 2022
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. announced the expansion of their strategic partnership with Chicago, Illinois-based SAMDI Tech, Inc. Under the existing partnership, established in 2018, SAMDI Tech clients have access to Charles River’s collection of lead-like compounds for high-throughput screening. The expanded agreement establishes Charles River as the exclusive partner for the promotion of SAMDI Tech’s technology. This partnership will provide Charles River’s clients seamless access to the premiere, label-free high-throughput screening mass spectrometry (MS) platform in drug discovery.
The SAMDI technology combines self-assembled monolayers and MALDI MS, and addresses the throughput and sample preparation limitations of traditional MS screening methods.
The combination of Charles River’s end-to-end portfolio and industry-leading scientific bench with SAMDI Tech’s innovative technology and expertise in assay solutions has the potential to significantly accelerate and augment clients’ discovery efforts by measuring biochemical activities and binding events for virtually any target.
Approved Quotes
“Our collaboration with SAMDI Tech is another step that we’re taking toward accelerating drug discovery and development. By generating quality data faster during hit identification, we can help our clients make critical go/no go decisions earlier in the process, to advance their programs.” –Wilbert Frieling, D.V.M., Corporate Senior Vice President, Global Discovery Services, Charles River
“With over a decade of industry experience, SAMDI Tech has a well-respected track record of producing high quality data. We are excited to partner with them to bring this technology to our clients.” – Julie Frearson, Ph.D., Corporate Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, Charles River
“We are excited to expand on our successful partnership with Charles River, whose clients will join our global client base to benefit from our label-free SAMDI technology, which continues to deliver cutting-edge solutions backed by high-quality, data-driven results.” –Emilio Cordova, PhD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, SAMDI Tech
About Charles River
Charles River provides essential products and services to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, government agencies and leading academic institutions around the globe accelerate their research and drug development efforts. Our dedicated employees are focused on providing clients with exactly what they need to improve and expedite the discovery, early-stage development and safe manufacture of new therapies for the patients who need them.
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CELL AND GENE THERAPY
Taysha | December 30, 2020
Taysha Gene Therapies, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSHA), a patient-driven gene therapy organization focused in on creating and commercializing AAV-based quality treatments for the treatment of monogenic infections of the focal sensory system in both uncommon and huge patient populaces, today reported new increases to its authority group with the arrangements of Greg Gara as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Kimberly Lee, D.O., as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.
Taysha Gene Therapies, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSHA), a patient-centric gene therapy organization zeroed in on creating and commercializing AAV-based qgene therapies for the treatment of monogenic infections of the focal sensory system in both uncommon and huge patient populaces, today declared new increases to its authority group with the arrangements of Greg Gara as Senior Vice President of Manufacturing and Kimberly Lee, D.O., as Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations.
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