Second Genome, a biotechnology company that leverages its proprietary platform to discover and develop precision therapies and biomarkers, announced today it has completed its multi-year collaboration with Bayer to discover proteins for potential development of next-generation insect-control products. During the collaboration, Second Genome generated and explored environmental metagenomes that include genomic information from bacteria that are yet to be identified and cultured.
"We are proud to have successfully executed a collaboration with Bayer following our discovery of thousands of novel proteins using our machine learning-enabled platform that have the potential to be developed into next-generation products. The discoveries Second Genome made are an important validation for the broad potential of our platform to develop novel therapeutic approaches for human health."
Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Second Genome
Under the terms of this multi-year agreement, Second Genome generated a large microbial metagenomic dataset that was subsequently evaluated using a machine learning driven platform to identify novel insecticidal proteins.
"With our vast human datasets, as well as our platform's machine learning, metagenomic and data standardization and analytic capabilities, we can efficiently analyze vast and geographically diverse data to advance Second Genome's pipeline of precision therapeutics and biomarkers and collaborators' portfolios," said Susannah Cantrell, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer of Second Genome. "We look forward to continuing to demonstrate the potential of our approach through additional industry collaborations in the health care field as we advance our lead mucosal healing and oncology programs toward the clinic this year."
About Second Genome
Second Genome is a biotechnology company that leverages its proprietary technology-enabled platform to discover and develop transformational precision therapies based on novel microbial genetic insights. We built a proprietary drug discovery platform with machine-learning analytics, customized protein engineering techniques, phage library screening, mass spec analysis and CRISPR, that we couple with traditional drug development approaches to progress the development of precision therapies for wide-ranging diseases. Second Genome is advancing lead programs in IBD and cancer into IND-enabling studies. We also collaborate with industry, academic and governmental partners to leverage our platform and data science capabilities. We hold a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc., utilizing our proprietary platform and comprehensive data sets to identify novel biomarkers associated with clinical response to Gilead's investigational medicines. We also hold a strategic collaboration with Arena Pharmaceuticals to identify microbiome biomarkers associated with clinical response for their lead program in gastroenterology, etrasimod.