Mammoth Biosciences, a company co-founded by CRISPR-Cas gene editing co-inventor Jennifer Doudna, said it closed a $45 million series B that will be used to further its development of CRISPR diagnostics and extend its platform into gene-editing and therapeutics.
Decheng Capital led the round with participation from Mayfield, NFX, Verily, Brook Byers, Plum Alley, Pacific 8, aMoon, and others.
The company said it is also exploring partnerships with biotech and pharmaceutical companies to leverage the Mammoth CRISPR platform to transform healthcare and deliver benefits to patients.
While much excitement has been generated by the potential CRISPR holds for treating disease, the clinical focus to date have centered on use of the enzyme Cas9. While this enzyme has shown initial signs of success in the lab, challenges remain for its use in humans. Mammoth said Cas9 also cannot be used be used for CRISPR-based diagnostics.
Mammoth has a portfolio of novel Cas systems that serve as a toolbox for applications in diagnostics, gene-editing, and therapeutics. The company discovered and characterized Cas14, a unique enzyme that opens new possibilities due to its extremely small size, diverse targeting ability, and high-fidelity.
These properties, the company said, will enable next-generation editing with a broader target range for both ex-vivo and in-vivo applications and will serve as a foundation for enabling advanced CRISPR modalities, such as targeted gene regulation, precision editing, and more.
“As a team on the frontlines of discovery in CRISPR, we’ve seen firsthand the need for new tools to deliver on the therapeutic and diagnostic promise that this technology has to offer,” said Trevor Martin, CEO and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences. “In powering new products in addition to diagnostics, we’re enabling the full potential of our platform to read and write the code of life and to fully transform how we interact with biology.”
Photo: Trevor Martin, CEO and co-founder of Mammoth Biosciences
Author: Rare Daily Staff
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