Deep Science Ventures

Seb - the flower designer - the one who built a plant biotech lab in his garage by hand-repairing second-hand equipment. That Seb. No-one at DSV who has spent time talking to Sebastian Cocioba leaves the conversation unaffected. This genuinely brilliant photo essay by the folks at Asimov Press, in conversation with the tireless David Lang, draws out Seb's story. We're profoundly privileged to work with Seb on potentially world-changing innovations in plant biotechnology and flowering. Link in comments!

Announcing a $4.2m round for Ancilia Biosciences, a company built at DSV which solves chronic health conditions by identifying problematic pathogens in the microbiome and producing live bio-therapeutics made immune to those pathogens through a novel application of CRISPR. What's fascinating is that whilst CRISPR is known more for its applications in gene editing, it evolved in bacteria as a natural defence against viruses, which is much closer to what it is being used for by Ancilia. Ancilia, lead by CEO Alexandra Sakatos, builds on the work of co-founder Rodolphe Barrangou who filed the first-ever CRISPR patent in 2004, as well as co-founder and chief technology officer David Páez-Espino, who has published more than 20 high impact papers in virology and bioinformatics and holds multiple patents in the field. Link for more on the story in comments!

New company alert - today we announce the formation of OligoTune, built in partnership with Cancer Research Horizons and founded by Loïc Roux, to develop immunotherapies focused on solid tumours. OligoTune focuses on reprogramming the immunosuppressive environment these tumours protect themselves with into one which instead promotes innate resistance against the tumours themselves. Link to the press release in comments! Huge thanks to the massive group of people that came to enable this invention! Hamish Ryder Beatrice Lana Laura Fletcher, PhD Kerstin Papenfuss, PhD MBA Jana Obajdin, PhD Anís Gammage Tanya Moore Julie Little, RTTP, CSAP

Triple negative breast cancer kills 40% of women within 5 years of diagnosis. Concr has now recruited their first patients for a groundbreaking trial to create 'digital twins' of 200 patients in order to predict treatment response to therapy (chemo or immunotherapy), working with The Institute of Cancer Research, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, Durham University and backed by Innovate UK. More detail in their article, linked in comments!

It has been such a pleasure to work with Aurélie Gonzalez, Harry Macpherson and the team at the The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment to launch Yama and amazing validation less than 12 months after they were founded to announce this $3m round.

Recent report by Tony Blair Institute for Global Change recommends implementing our PhD programme, the Venture Science Doctorate, as one of a number of ideas to "make the UK... one of the best places in the world to start a biotech company". Other recommendations include: -> building a "laboratory for biodesign", -> programmatic follow-on fund and late stage scale-up grants for synbio companies, -> an integrated plan for addressing future pandemics aswell as a biosecurity taskforce, -> the creation of an "AI Doctor" for every citizen -> and much, much more. Link in comments to the report itself and to more about the Venture Science Doctorate itself. Benedict Macon-Cooney, Tom Westgarth, Henry Li, James Phillips, Darcy Ward, Charlie Harris, Luke Stanley and the team for producing this report.

Plurify is a next generation cell therapy manufacturing company, built in partnership with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult and spun out at the very end of last year. Plurify's technology selectively and highly accurately removes unwanted impurities in cell therapies - one of the critical bottlenecks to using these life-saving medicines at scale. Very proud indeed of Djordje Djordjevic, Mantas Matjusaitis, Daniel Ortmann and the Plurify team for securing this funding in a competition contended by some of the UK's leading biotech spinouts.

New report by Science Practice for the Wellcome Trust on the need for "a different kind of catalytic environment", specifically pointing to "problem-first" organisations like DSV and Convergent Research in their analysis of the barriers holding back digital mental health https://lnkd.in/dsNjgev7

🚨 Hiring Alert 🚨 At Deep Science Ventures, we are on a mission to create a future where both humanity and the planet can thrive. Our pioneering ventures span pharmaceuticals, agriculture, climate, computation, education, and beyond. With a portfolio of 38 companies and over $160m raised, our journey has only just begun. We have exciting openings across all sectors, for a vast array of profiles, seniorities and backgrounds. Opportunities include roles such as Founders in Residence, Co-Founders, Head of Philanthropy for Education, Program Directors, Associates, Project Managers, Data Scientists, Immunologists and more! Join us and contribute to solving the world’s most pressing challenges with cutting-edge innovation! 👉 Check the list in our comments! 👈

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