>FASTA: short reads of the biotech ecosystem beyond trad-pharma | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies + biotech philosophy | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.

1. Fractyl Health ($GUT) is developing a GLP-1 gene therapy.

2. Muse bio collects menstrual blood donations for stem cell research.

3. Chilean startup ByBug uses fly larvae as protein biofactories.

4. David Sinclair’s Life Bioscience will begin human trials this year.

5. BioProtocol just launched a new men’s health supplement.

6. Enzymatic conversion of blood groups for kidney donation.

7. DGP’s plant-based engine lubricants sell in Home Depots across the US.

8. Cymbiotika cracked the code to ready-to-drink creatine.

9. Abel re-launched as a biotech-based fragrance house.

10. Poets: the rise of wellness & looks-maxxing coaches.

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>FASTA: short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram.

It’s been a loooongggg break from posting, but I haven’t stopped reading and thinking about biotech. Let’s catch up on fertility, neurotech, longevity, and peptide startups:

1. Chinese billionaires have been ordering babies by the dozen, made through IVF and surrogacy.

2. RenewalBio makes “synthetic” embryos directly from stem cells.

3. Fairtility, the AI tool that enhances the work of embryologists.

4. Colossal Foundation donated $1.5M to George Church to make artificial wombs.

5. Becoming is an SF startup that builds exogenous placenta.

6. The DOE will train AI scientists on Federal scientific datasets.

7. DARPA’s new Generative Optogenetics (GO) Program.

8. Antitrust in the science instrument industry.

9. Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son’s new R&D company.

10. Evolv’s weight loss pill x Oura Ring.

11. Flow Neuroscience’s transcranial stimulation device has been approved by the FDA.

Subscribe to read all 30 news about: a marketplace for non-human genomic data, the ozempic economy, the company cultivating pharma-grade shrooms, a phage therapy for obesity, betting on human enhancement, biotech new masculinity, endometriosis startups, quantum dots, health by subscription…

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>FASTA is back with short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram!

1. 🐎 Embryo Corporation edited horse embryos directly for the first time. They have also edited cat embryos to make hypoallergenic pets.

2. 👶 OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong are funding Preventive, one of the new startups researching CRISPR babies.

3. 🎙️ Listen to the newest Biofounders interview with Grace Chuang on the biocreative path, fears in biotech branding, and what biotech is missing today.

4. 🦣 Colossal Bioscience acquired Viagen to expand their de-extinction efforts through cloning and cryopreservation biotech.

5. 🥛 Remilk is partnering with Gad Dairies to sell their bio-identical milk in Israel, the US, Canada and Singapore.

6. 🔬 The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative acquired Evolutionary Scale. The organization is refocusing its efforts on AI applied to scientific research.

7. 🥚 EVERY raised $55M in a series D to expand their manufacturing capacity for precision fermentation egg proteins now hitting Walmarts across the US.

8. 🤖 Jeff Bezos is launching Project Prometheus with $6.2B to apply AI to the physical world, including drug discovery.

9. 🏭 Synonym raised $20M series A led by a South Korean conglomerate with other investments in biomanufacturing.

10. James Watson passed away this month. I think we should revisit his misogynous, racist and homophobic comments with new eyes.

Extra Biopunk: Asterix Foods, selective crystallization for cheaper purification, BilliontoOne IPO, first trillion-dollar biotech, the AGI argument for longevity.

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>FASTA is constantly evolving. You can now read 10 weekly news of non-trad biotech faster. In honor to paid subscribers, there’s 10 extra bits with explainer paragraphs | Follow on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube for more content.

The spookiest biotech in a nutshell

1. 🦏 The Biorescue Consortium is partnering with Colossal Biosciences to save the Northern White Rhino using IVF and genetic engineering.

2. 🔬 Nucleus Genomics launched Origin, a set of open-weighted models for polygenic risk assessment of nine different diseases in IVF embryos.

3. 🧬 Preventive raised $30M from private investors to assess the safety of human embryo gene editing as a Public Benefit Corporation.

4. 👼 Manhattan Genomics is a New York-based startup pursuing human embryo editing for medical purposes.

5. 🎙️ Biofounders interview with Alexander Titus: Biotech from the Pentagon to Silicon Valley, storytelling, and frameworks for progress in our industry.

6. 🦠 Former Palantir Lifesci director launches Valthos, a biodefense software startup, backed by $30M from OpenAI, Founders Fund and Lux Capital.

7. 🤖 Claude will now connect to Benchling, Biorender, PubMed, 10X Genomics and other apps, and be able to perform quality control of genomic data.

8. 🖥️ Benchling is giving scientists direct access to NVIDIA’s GPU-optimized protein folding models.

9. 🦖 Plasmidsaurus launched a new RNA-Seq service for Illumina short reads.

10. 🧛‍♂️ Bryan Johnson raised $60M to bring his longevity protocol to the mainstream through Blueprint.

Extra Biopunk: Adaptyx biosensors, Evvy vaginal microbiome tests, Contraline male contraceptives, Chinese animal models, expiring GLP-1 patents, protein supplement reports, €8M for cell cultured cosmetics, lab-grown fruit research, bioelectric pumpkins…

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram | Versión en Español

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1. 🧬 Embryo optimization arrives in Mexico

Clínica de la Fertilidad (CdelaF) has partnered with Nucleus Genomics to bring genetic optimization of human embryos to Latin America for the first time. The IVF clinic is also adopting the EmbryoScope time-lapse technology by Vitrolife Group to monitor embryonic development.

Before starting CdelaF, Dr. Enrique Cervantes specialized in reproductive endocrinology and fertility at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and worked at IVI RMA Global, a leading reproductive medicine group, in Spain for seven years. He brings eight years of experience as a founder and CEO of CdelaM, a gynecological and obstetric clinic.

An important question left to answer about CdelaF’s partnership with Nucleus is how to ensure an unskewed data analysis, given the data Nucleus’ algorithms are trained on may not be representative of the clinic’s clients’ genetics. As for time-lapse tech, this study disproves its usefulness in increasing IVF success rates. It’ll be great to chat with Enrique to understand this better.

2. 🍫 Cacao embryos

California Cultured patented their methods of producing chocolate from cacao plant somatic embryos. Unlike callus, which is normally used in plant cell culture, these tissues produce high levels of fat naturally, as well as the critical triglycerides (POP, POS, and SOS) that make cocoa butter solid at room temperature but quick to melt in the mouth.

They have a 10-year deal with Japanese chocolate company Meiji and are partnering with biomanufacturing company Pow.Bio to reach industrial-scale production.

Biopunk paid subscribers have exclusive access to a video tour of California Cultured’s lab-grown chocolate facility:

3. 🤖 Trilobot One and Trilobio OS

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! They’re building the next generation of military medicine for rapid wound healing and pathogen detection—advancing solutions from frontline emergencies to everyday healthcare.

1. BCI glasses are the next iPhone

Cognixion is launching a clinical trial to allow 10 paralyzed patients with speech disorders to communicate through their BCI integrated with the Apple Vision Pro. The BCI uses six EEG sensors to collect brain signals, and the headset allows for AI-generated suggestions, eye tracking or head movement commands.

Like Synchron, Cognixion will be using Apple’s new BCI protocol. Since Apple is developing AirPods with BCIs and AR glasses similar to Meta’s, I wouldn’t be surprised if low-resolution BCI glasses are also in their pipeline for the next 5-10 years.

On a philosophical note, I think it’s important to keep in mind how much autonomy each kind of technology can actually give us in the long term. BCIs will reduce communication burdens, but where are the gene cures?

2. K18 x Future Society

K18’s peptides have bonded with Future Society’s extinct rainforest tree fragrance in a limited edition hair mask! The patented K18PEPTIDE™ can repair multiple types of bonds in hair, while the Floating Forest scent was inspired by an extinct rainforest tree once found only in Borneo.

Future Society started as a Ginkgo Bioworks project led by Christina Agapakis. The scientists collaborated with the Harvard Herbarium to sequence the DNA of six extinct flower species, and expressed their sesquiterpene synthase genes in yeast to recreate their ancestral scent.

Though making fragrances through genetic engineering is not economically viable yet, the company now led by Jasmina Aganovic worked with professional perfumers to replicate the individual scent molecules and their products can now be found in 46 retail locations across the US.

For its part, K18 started with Portuguese research in 2016, turned into a company in 2020 and was acquired by Unilever in 2023. The brand is now available in over 90 countries, and their biotech is now used in hair products, which may help their new partners expand brand awareness among both consumers and beauty brands.

3. Update on Google’s Calico

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Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! They’re building the next generation of military medicine for rapid wound healing and pathogen detection—advancing solutions from frontline emergencies to everyday healthcare.

1. Vitropep 🙅‍♀️ 💉

From weight loss to wound healing applications, peptides are perhaps the hottest biotech these days. Vitropep stabilizes peptides as microneedles that can be administered topically through a painless patch (no more needles!) that carries up to 90% of the API and is stable at room temperature (no cold chain).

Founder Christophe Tarabout, a biophysicist, has proven in vitro and in vivo efficiency for two known commercial peptides used in the IVF process and for bowel diseases. He’s running promising tests for GLP-1 and has filed two patents. The 3-year-old company is part of Genopole and currently fundraising.

2. Swimclub 🩲

Swimclub is the first clinically formulated sperm performance supplement. A combination of vitamin D3, lycopene, spermidine, zinc and 11 other branded ingredients are formulated to target sperm count, motility, morphology, and DNA fragmentation for improved fertility in males who are trying to get pregnant.

While the decline in sperm count is in the zeitgeist, fertility is still more often associated with women, who unlike their counterparts, are expected to take prenatal vitamins as part of the pregnancy or conception efforts. Squared Circles, the venture studio behind swimclub, was challenged with turning Dr. Michael Eisenberg’s science into a desirable brand.

The capsules are made in FDA-registered, cGMP-certified US facilities, and start at $380 for a 90-day subscription, which is recommended as sperm takes at least 72 days to generate.

3. Until, the hibernation company ❄️

A little over a year ago, longevity investor and scientist Laura Deming announced the recovery of electrical activity from cryopreserved rodent neural tissue at Until, her new Interstellar-esque new company. So far, they’ve raised US$100M+ to preserve whole human organs for transplants, and one day, whole bodies.

The very interdisciplinary challenge they’re working to solve is how to protect the tissue when cooling and rewarming. They need to change the temperature fast enough to prevent ice formation, but not too fast so there are no thermal gradients across the whole volume of the tissue.

Instead of moonshot Disney-like tech for billionaires, it seems sensible to target the demand for the thousands of organ transplants which are actually lost each year to logistical delays or lack of a timely match by developing better cryo-tech.

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4. Long-release pills 💊

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! They’re building the next generation of military medicine for rapid wound healing and pathogen detection—advancing solutions from frontline emergencies to everyday healthcare.

1. Argentina builds with biology 🐎

Gabriel Vichera was doing his PhD on cloning, IVF, and genetic modification of bovines at the University of Buenos Aires when he saw a single polo mare clone be sold for nearly a million dollars at an auction, right there in the capital of polo: Argentina.

He set out to found Kheiron Biotech the next year and by 2017, before the first CRISPR babies were born in China, the team had created nine genetically modified horse embryos. Their initial backer, Daniel Sammartino, is the founder and CEO of Proinvesa, a group of biotechnology, pharma and veterinarian startups based in Argentina.

The horses they unveiled a few weeks ago were CRISPR’d to inhibit the myostatin gene and thus, have a better performance in polo. Today, the company sells horse clones at an average price of $40,000 USD per clone, apart from offering stem cell treatments and gene banking.

2. Enveda becomes a unicorn 🦄

Enveda has built the world’s largest library of plant-derived molecules linked to diseases, symptoms, and therapeutic potential. By combining mass spectrometry with proprietary LLMs, they can analyze tens of thousands of molecules at a time, instead of just one.

Their dermatitis and asthma candidate has passed phase 1 in clinical trials, and they have twelve other preclinical candidates for indications such as IBD and obesity. Their recent $150M USD Series D brings their total funding to $517M and gives them a unicorn status.

3. Cultivated wood 🪵

In 2024, New Dawn Bio grew wood directly from plant cells under controlled lab conditions, without growing a whole tree, at Wageningen University. This month, they secured a €1.4M Eurostars grant to advance their research at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1. Astra Zeneca's at-home flue vaccine

FluMist was first FDA-approved as a nasal spray in 2003, but 13 years later, the CDC recommended against using it since it was found to be less effective than injectable vaccines. Last year, it became the first flu vaccine approved for at-home use, also marking the company’s first foray into D2C medicine.

As big pharmas begin to play in this consumer space, it’s time we talk about biotech UI/UX. Something as seemingly superficial as the delivery mode could impact consumer adoption, save distribution costs, while also demanding a different marketing strategy — Will we see nasal sprays for gene therapies soon?

2. Holmes' return

Elizabeth Holmes — yes, the former founder of Theranos who committed the biggest fraud in biotech history — has allegedly reopened her Twitter account, managed by someone else since she is currently serving an 11-year sentence in Texas.

Though it’s a bit early to know if there’s a larger PR strategy here, I wouldn’t doubt that some inspiration has been drawn from Jiankui He, the Chinese scientist who was also condemned to 2 years of prison for editing babies with CRISPR and is now a Twitter influencer with 140k followers.

While Holme’s post-prison plans cannot be confirmed yet, her husband Billy Evans has been public about raising $3.5M [from their millionaire friends and fam group] for yet another blood testing company, Haemanthus. The 10-person team has

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

☣️ BSL5

1/10: Tour of the Brophy lab

In another episode of BSL5, I visited the Brophy Lab in Stanford, where they build genetic engineering tools for plants and bacteria. This video includes a lab tour, as well as an interview with PhD student Vivian Zhong and Postdoc Alexander Borowsky on their work, hyped and underhyped plant synbio, and their perspective on ag biotech as an industry.

Stay tuned for the full release next week!

2/10: GPT coming to your brain in the 30s

The CEOs of OpenAI and Tools for Humanity will cofound Merge Labs, a brain-computer interface company. Nothing else is known apart from the fact that it may be valued at $850 million, still nothing compared to Neuralink’s recent $9B valuation.

To me, it’s no surprise that both Altman and Musk are playing in very similar stages. The human-computer symbiosis was first proposed by Martin Heidegger in The question concerning technology. What a privilege to be the generation that can make crucial design decisions that will literally change what a human is.

3/10: GLP-1 or just a scam?

EV1 is a peptide engineered to mimic the effects of both GLP-1 and GIP (Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide), delivered through a yeast probiotic. 30 capsules come at a $148 USD price. No human trials, no prior relevant research by the founder, no data except for some five-star reviews that really don’t say much…

Obviously, The weight loss pill is no small deal. Any big pharma that has GLP-1 agonists has a pill in the pipeline, and many related startups do too. In April of this year, Lilly’s oral GLP-1, orforglipron, demonstrated efficacy and safety in a successful Phase 3 trial. The small molecule was discovered by Chugai Pharmaceutical and was licensed by Lilly in 2018.

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1/9: To become God or to create God

Humans use AI to select which genes to edit in all kinds of organisms, from plants to humans. We grant them control of cloud automated labs where these organisms are born from artificial wombs — In such dystopian world, we don’t become Gods; AI does.

2 out of every 100 American babies are conceived through IVF already. What most people don’t think about is that the sperm IVF selects for is different because they’re not traveling the same distance as in the fallopian tube. A 2019 study suggests that ICSI-conceived men may have impaired sperm production — Does this mean we will IVF ourselves out of existence?

🎙️ Biofounders episode with Michael Florea, cofounder & CEO of Olden Labs

2/9: AI-smart and low-cost animal cages

While the news says that organoids and simulations are making animal testing obsolete, that still seems far from reality in practice. Anywhere where you have multisystem interactions, you need a whole organism. Organoids and chips are expensive to maintain, and full organism modeling is still decades away.

Olden Labs builds AI-smart and low-cost cages with built-in cameras, microphones, wifi, and an AI-powered data platform so you know what your mice are doing all the time, at scale. In the first month of launching, they secured over 100 labs, companies, and institutions to sign up for their cages and they’ve already shipped over 40 Domes starting at $1,000 each.

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3/9: Gameto’s $44M Series C

Instead of hormone-pilling women to extract their eggs (causing undesired side effects), Gameto has engineered in-vitro maturation organoids from iPSCs to mature eggs outside the body. These ovaries in a dish reduce the protocol from 2 weeks to 2-3 days. Their product is already available in Mexico, Peru, and Australia, and is at the last phase of clinical trials in the US.

It’s interesting how the company is taking a platform approach, such that the same organoids they use to mature eggs can also be used to develop cell therapies that slow down menopause. They have already received $10M from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) for this research.

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1/10: Our sponsor cut open his leg and raised $4.3M

While Palantir and Andruil build defense software and hardware, soldiers still use gauze and die primarily of hemorrhage on the battlefield. Done with Nature papers, dusty patents, and PowerPoint founders, Jake Alder from Pilgrim Labs showed his investors how their rapid wound-healing nanotech works on himself.

Kingsfoil (yes, from The Lord of the Rings) uses electrical currents to accelerate clot formation and guide tissue-regenerating cells to the injury site. This and other products in their pipeline — which include lipid nanoparticles and a biosurveillance system — could get expedited approval through a special process between the DoD and the FDA, and be offered to consumers for medical use in the future.

2/10: Why LuxBio sells glow sticks to NASA

Glow sticks. You’ve seen them at concerts, your aunt’s wedding, and emergency cases (hopefully just in movies). When the US military developed them, they used chemicals that are now illegal. However, still today, 17 out of 20 surveyed glow sticks have been found to contain outlawed chemicals, and in France alone, 2.4 million people have called poison control centers after exposure to glow stick liquid in the past ten years.

Despite our weird quirk of making everything glow, biotechnologists haven’t seen beyond luciferase, which can’t last long enough to see Aunt Mary’s breakdance at 2 am. Hence LuxBio engineered a bioluminescent enzyme to have a slower decay curve, reduced affinity to inhibitors, increased thermostability, and increased production yields. NASA was, indeed, their first customer.

3/10: Geltor is back in the game with consumer peptides

After the widely felt slump in consumer biotech, Geltor has announced that their revenue grew ~75% over the course of their new fundraising round. They have launched a vegan collagen polypeptide in LatAm, signed a collab for their peptide AI design platform, and received the first and only “no questions” letter for their ingestible biotech type 21 collagen (PrimaColl®).

4/10: Prepare for more biotech defense bills

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and now Instagram too! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1/10: Bioenergic engineering at ARIA

ARIA comes up with idiosyncratic calls for research projects in overlooked areas, makes them look sexy (see artwork below), and gives great scientists money to pursue them. I find that very cool. Like, had you ever thought about engineering how living things use and generate energy (not DNA, not information, ENERGY!) to treat neuro disease or create environmental solutions???

Their upcoming program is dubbed “Precision Mitochondria” and aims to build a toolkit to study and edit mtDNA precisely, for the first time.

2/10: Unproven stem cell therapies in Florida

A new law now allows doctors in Florida to administer unapproved stem-cell therapies as long as these are retrieved, manufactured, and stored in a facility that is registered and regulated by the FDA. The state representative who sponsored this bill thinks this will help Florida become a hub for medical tourism. A 2021 study identified nearly 2,800 clinics in the US selling purported stem-cell treatments.

3/10: Sony’s biotech cameras

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and now Instagram too! | Versión en Español

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1/10: ViaGen clones polo mares 🐎

Adolfo Cambiaso, an Argentinian polo legend, had dreamed of cloning his fast and agile mare to secure the future of his children in the sport. Upon realizing that even just a son (not a clone) was worth USD $760k at auction, a longtime friend of his suggested they join forces to keep the bloodline in their hands. Together with Crestview founder, Alan Meeker — who contracted the world’s leading pet cloning company, ViaGen — they made fortunes.

Well, that was only until Meeker sold three clones behind his BFF’s back for $2.4 million dollars to pay a $1.4 million debt from his other biotech company. Cambiaso sued him and got the clones back, but who knows, maybe some tissue samples from his precious mare are in some cryopreservation facility, ready to flood polo tournaments.

A truly fascinating story! Even more enticing is to think about how much more fun and money are waiting for biotech builders who know how to look beyond pharma and techbio. I call it for 2028 to be the year we experience the first enhanced [polo] games: get ready to bet on-chain for the best gene mods, folks, F1 of biotech is about to get wild.

2/10: Threesome IVF babies 🧫

If someone’s ever told you it’s impossible for threesomes to procreate, tell them that more than 8 babies have already been born carrying the DNA of three parents each, since the 90s. If you are that someone, you should also know this was not done “for fun in the natural way”, but through IVF which aimed to prevent mitochondrial mutations from passing on to the children.

Have you ever separated egg yolk from the whites? This is similar: choose the least sexy but still healthy person to donate an egg. Remove its nucleus (sorry) and don’t forget to keep its mitochondrial DNA intact (in the “whites”). Then, replace it with the nucleus of the sexy and healthy egg. Finally, fertilize it with the sperm (hopefully equally sexy and healthy) in vitro, and boom, you’ll soon be parents to a healthy and sexy baby!

Grandma’s advice is to be very careful when you’re scooping out nuclear DNA from the sexy egg so you don’t carry any undesired mtDNA along. For very mysterious reasons though, embryos that had 1% of this undesired mtDNA were born with 30-60% of that DNA, a phenomenon scientists now call “MRT reversion”.

3/10: In-ovo matriarchy now in stores 🐣

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and now Instagram too!

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1/10: CRISPR to treat down syndrome

Japanese scientists removed the extra chromosome responsible for Down syndrome in iPSCs and fibroblasts grown in-vitro using CRISPR-Cas9. Since several genes exhibit differential expression between alleles of parental origin, the edits had to be allele-specific to mitigate the risk of imprinting disorders.

2/10: Copper reversed Parkinson’s in mice

In Parkinson’s patients, the misfolded antioxidant enzyme SOD1 accumulates in the brain causing damage to dopamine neurons. Since copper is crucial for the protein’s functioning and its reduced availability is drives the development of this disease, this study designed CuATSM for copper supplementation to brain tissue. Mice that received it showed no alterations in their movement and SOD1 restored functioning.

3/10: Samphire Neuroscience’s $5M seed

“Nettle is the world’s first brain stimulating headband for at-home alleviation of PMS and period pain symptoms. Available to buy in the UK and across the EU, Nettle is also undergoing clinical trials in PMDD and endometriosis populations”.

Two electrodes stimulate the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to improve emotional regulation, while two others activate the insula via the motor cortex to ease pain. 20 minutes a day mimic brain activity during the follicular phase = improved mood and increased energy.

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>FASTA: weekly short reads of the global biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy | Read in under 5 min | Follow on LinkedIn, X, and now Instagram too!

Pilgrim is proud to sponsor >FASTA! We’re developing the next generation of military medicine to meet the operational demands of modern warfare—moving beyond theory and bringing biotechnology from the benchtop to the battlefield.

1/10: Use FinalSpark’s brain organoid matrix

I’ve covered other biocomputing companies in the past. FinalSpark too has built a NeuroPlatform to use their brain organoids to run simulations remotely, with real-time neural stimulation and reading, data storage, and backup. Some researchers recently used it to simulate a 3D butterfly!

2/10: $50M for Quantum-Si’s optical prot-seq

Their benchtop equipment enables real-time kinetic-based single-molecule protein sequencing for barcoding, post-translational modification analysis, antibody sequencing, biomarker identification, LNP and AAV screening, etc.

They could be using the cash to keep developing Proteus, their novel optical protein sequencing platform. In this new device, each sample in a well is excited with light and emits energy that is directed to a sensor by a might “optical element” — No more semiconductors for protein seq either?

3/10: CZI x IGI collab

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is funding the Innovative Genomics Institute with USD $20M to establish the Center for Pediatric CRISPR Cures, where UC Berkeley will design and test base editing cures and UCSF will do clinical treatment for severe pediatric genetic diseases, starting with 8 patients.

“With all appropriate confidentiality considerations, the Center will ensure that data from all investigative new drug-enabling studies, regulatory documentation, and clinical trials is available to other U.S. academic centers in pediatric disease that wish to design and deploy their own CRISPR-based therapies for similar cases”.

4/10: Del Monte bankrupt.

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1/10 - PET-based drugs

“Plastic-eating enzymes” is the basic example both tiktokers and boring professors use when they try to explain why biotech will change the world. Several startups have come along and some have collaborated with big brands like On, PUMA, and L’OCCITANE en Provence… is it actually profitable1 though?

“Turn the freaking bottle into something more expensive” — “Paracetamol!” Replied the Edinburgh researchers who engineered two E. coli strains to break down PET and convert it into paracetamol. At room temperature, with virtually no carbon emissions, and at a max yield of 92%.

2/10 - China to shorten clinical trials

Biomanufacturing industries like the above are to become sexy again because the US needs to find a way to beat China in biotech. Not just in manufacturing, but innovation. Last year, for example, large pharma licensed 31% of their external molecules from China, compared with 6% in 2020.

On the regulations front, China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has proposed to cut the clinical trial review waiting period for novel medicines to 30 working days (down from 60), for key medicines like pediatric drugs for cancers and rare diseases. This would match the FDA’s timeline.

3/10 - Bipaternal offspring

Forget about launching drugs to the market or rockets to the moon. What country can birth the first baby from a gay couple? I’m talking two biological dads or moms having a baby that is only theirs in DNA. Sam Altman, both gay and wealthy (haha), is an investor in Conception, a biotech co making human oocytes from female blood.

This year in China…

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>FASTA presents weekly short reads of the biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy as dessert | Read in under 5 min | Emails every Wednesday | Follow on LinkedIn and X.

1. Electro-oncology

If the term bioelectricity rings a bell, chances are you’re thinking of Michael Levin’s research with two-headed worms, or the promise of regenerating human limbs like axolotls do. Wondering whether this groundbreaking research will actually save human lives within your lifetime? I’ve got good news for you:

After discovering and defining the first-ever, only-electrical biomarker for brain cancer, Coherence neuro just came out of stealth with SOMA-1: a wireless, coin-sized implant that stimulates and monitors brain activity to treat the cancer. They will start human trials this October — and yes, straight out of a sci-fi movie, the device connects to the SOMA app for real-time tracking.

2. Arc’s virtual cell

Arc Institute has done it again. Their latest model, State, predicts how gene expression changes in different stem cells, cancer cells, and immune cells, in response to drugs, cytokines, and genetic perturbations. This tool could help researchers discover new drugs with fewer off-target effects and boost clinical success rates, as only 1 in 10 make it through today.

I like that they acknowledge that, despite the hundreds of millions of cell data they used for training, the insights provided by these models are still correlation, not cause. And, in Niko McCarty’s brilliant words, “learning causality is essential for building a true virtual cell model grounded in biological mechanisms”.

3. RUBI wins EPO prize

RUBI’s enzymes literally turn CO₂ into cellulose for textiles and other products, using 10x less energy and CapEx than fermentation or chemical catalysis. They’re currently piloting with Walmart, Patagonia and H&M. The European Patent Office is awarding them €20.000 through the Young Inventors Prize.

‘Sustainability’ is only one of many criteria brands can optimize for. As synthetic and functional materials dominate the market, no amount of CO2 offset is good enough if your process is too expensive or doesn’t scale. I’m glad to see RUBI as one of those companies growing through the tricky biomaterials maze.

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>FASTA presents weekly short reads of the biotech ecosystem | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy as dessert | Read in under 5 min | Emails every Wednesday | LinkedIn and X all day.

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7 days, 7 news

1. Nucleus Genomics launched Nucleus Embryo, “the first-ever genetic optimization software” for couples using IVF. Tech-bros celebrated a new era of genomics, bio-gals worried about a eugenic slippery slope. Read til the end to get my 3 cents on the marketing, science, and philosophy.

   

2. Digestiva launched Amplifye, a consumer biotech brand commercializing P24 enzyme capsules for amplified protein absorption. The brand is being led by former CEO of the now-bankrupt Amyris. What might he be doing differently this time? I sneaked into their patents and papers to find out. Read til the end…

   

3. Loop biotech’s mushroom coffins. While Silicon Valley is trying to escape death, our Dutch friends are resignifying it. The Loop Living Cocoon™ is made out of mushroom species local to the Netherlands and upcycled hemp fibers. It’s grown in 7 days and biodegrades in 45 days — Now I am really curious to know who their user personas are… Andy, the hippie who loves shrooms and wants their souls to merge with mother nature, perhaps?

   

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>FASTA sequences the biotech ecosystem, across all domains of life | Papers and patents, acquisitions and bankruptcies, biotech philosophy as dessert | Read in less than 5 min | Follow along on LinkedIn and Twitter.

1. NeutraOat captures microplastics

Few things make me angry in life: inefficiencies, air pollutants in our brains, boring biotech, and microplastics in our blood. No matter how much of an almond mom you are, the microplastics will catch you and your family. They’re in our fertilizers, thus in our crops. They’re in our clothes, thus in our skin. They’re literally in the air, in placenta, salt and honey. BOOOOO!!!! 👻… 😰

How to get rid of them? Bryan Johnson has undergone Total Plasma Exchange (TPE) as a potential way to lower his levels of microplastics and other toxins. But that’s $10,000 USD per session, and several sessions might be required for it to work. Will be interesting to see his results but, what about the rest of us?

Well, this FASTA issue is not yet sponsored by NeutraOat, the first supplement designed to prevent the absorption of plasticizers like BpA and DEHP!!! It’s literally oat, modified with food-grade ingredients to trap plasticizers. Within an hour or two of consuming plasticizer-containing food, NeutraOat will trap the plasticizers, preventing them from entering your bloodstream. Next, you excrete both the hell out of your body!

2. Cancer vaccines graveyard

If we strictly used the term ‘vaccine’ to refer to a preventive measure as opposed to a treatment, there are actually only 2 FDA-approved cancer vaccines in the market, BCG and T-VEC, that target the viruses that may cause that cancer. All the others (e.g. Provenge) are usually cell therapies that train the patient’s immune cells to recognize and kill cancer cells.

In her piece, outlines biological and clinical reasons why dozens of new (actual) cancer vaccines tested since the 90s have failed to prove efficacy in clinical trials (even at phase III). As a complete ignorant of cancer medicine, I got curious about how patient selection may be optimized and how helpful single-cell sequencing may be in navigating the genetically heterogeneous cancer maze.

On the bright side, literally one day after that blog post was published, Strand Tx announced promising results in their Phase 1 trials for their mRNA ‘vaccine’ in advanced melanoma patients. While Strand is going the monotherapy route, Kat reasons most cancers will probably require immunomodulatory agents in addition to the vaccines.

3. Ozempic but for superpowers

In 2009, scientists from UCSF discovered a single-point mutation that grants a whole family of people the ability to sleep only 4-6h per night without developing any cognitive, metabolic, or emotional impairments. The gene, DEC2, codes for a transcriptional repressor that usually inhibits the “wakefulness hormone” orexin. When mutated, DEC2 has less repressor activity, resulting in increased orexin expression, and thus prolonged wakefulness.

I was catching up with a friend this week, Isaak Freeman from the Church lab, who’s basically turning these insights into Ozempic for Sleep…

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