LabGenius Secures Government Innovation Grant to Expand ML-driven Drug Discovery Platform, EVA™
October 07 2022 - 3:00AM
Business Wire
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation
(UKRI), has awarded LabGenius with a SMART grant to accelerate the
development of its immune cell engager lead optimization
capability
LabGenius, a pioneer in the use of machine learning (ML) for
antibody engineering, today announced that it has been awarded a
highly competitive SMART grant from Innovate UK. Grants from the
£25 million fund allow businesses like LabGenius to realize the
potential of new ideas by investing in game-changing, commercially
viable research and development projects.
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To date, LabGenius’ EVA platform has been used to
co-optimize mono- and multi-specific single domain antibodies for
biochemical and bio functional properties, including stability,
potency and selective tumor cell killing. This grant will be used
to further expand EVA's capabilities by accelerating the
platform’s ability to optimize antibody-based immune cell engager
molecules.
Many existing antibody therapeutics have poor selective cell
killing profiles, which can result in on-target, off-tumor effects,
and the discontinuation of treatment. Using EVA's predictive
power, LabGenius is identifying non-intuitive protein designs,
which perform well across multiple therapeutically valuable
properties, including selective killing.
Commenting on LabGenius’ funding allocation, UKRI Board Member,
Lord David Willetts said: “Machine learning presents real promise
to transform the way we approach cancer detection and treatment. It
is incredibly exciting to see LabGenius focusing its efforts in
this area of therapeutic innovation by continuing to advance their
immune cell engager lead optimization capability.”
“We’re incredibly proud to have been awarded a SMART grant from
Innovate UK” says LabGenius’ CEO and Founder, Dr. James Field.
“This funding will help us realize the potential of computational
technologies in R&D as we believe that they are the key to
accelerating the discovery and development of advanced
therapeutics.”
Speaking to the company’s recent success, LabGenius’ Chief
Scientific Officer, Dr. Gino Van Heeke said, “Lead optimization is
a critical part of the antibody discovery process, and this funding
will allow us to further demonstrate our platform’s potential to
use machine learning to accelerate the development of molecules
with best-in-class properties.”
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About LabGenius Headquartered in London, LabGenius is a
leading machine learning-driven protein engineering company. The
company’s core technology platform, EVA™, enables the rapid
discovery of novel therapeutic antibodies. LabGenius’ highly
multidisciplinary team brings together the very best minds from the
fields of computer science, robotic automation and synthetic
biology.
For more information, please visit www.labgeni.us, or connect on
Twitter, LinkedIn and Medium.
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For media enquiries, please contact Lucy Shaw at
press@labgeni.us For business development, please contact James
Field at partnerships@labgeni.us