Manford Bio Molecular ‘Barcodes’ Can Break Pharmacies in Vivo – TechCrunch

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When a new drug is created, you finally have to put the molecule into a real creature one by one – and see if it works exactly what you think. Manifold Bio Molecular Machinery allows one hundred molecules to be tested in one living system at a time, which can speed up the overall process.

The field of drug discovery has grown exponentially over the past few years, first with rapid and inexpensive gene translations, then with CRISPR, and then AI-powered proteomics. However, in the end, no matter how much you accelerate basic research, you do not need to know what all of this does. In vivo Attempts continue to be a major stumbling block.

In vivo means “alive”, in contrast to Invitro (glass) or silicone (simulator), and rats are common critters who are skeptical of the safety and effectiveness of the new drug. And there is a general equation: one drug, one mouse. Because this drug test is a challenging and time-consuming part of the logistics, there are only a few molecules left to make sure the company or laboratory is working properly. But it is also the first – and often the last – that of any of these medicines must actually work in the real body, and the result is that many have been washed away.

Enter Manifold Bio. The $ 40 million launch is aimed at making mouse experiments a hundred times more efficient and effective, by changing that equation and making it work earlier in vivo testing that confirms molecular function. before They throw in a few million dollars.

“The best test environment is a reality,” said Gleb Kuznetsov, founder and CEO of Manifeld Bio. “But as you grow into a drug development program, you are investing more and more expensive experiments and experiments. We are improving very early, so once we reach the final door of clinical trials, we will move forward with improved medicine. If you believe this is the right medicine to invest in, you can solve the key risks of your investment.

Currently, you have mouse testing, general target and a few potential drug molecules. With each mouse, someone walks in and you see what happens – and everyone has a chance to swing at this crucial stage.

Manifold’s creation is parallel to the Vivo experiment with up to a hundred simultaneous experiments in one mouse. To do this, he invented a technology called “protein barcoding” that is considered to be molecular RFID tags.

Description of several “barcodes” related to proteins to be tested in vivo.

“The way it works is to attach more protein, our protein barcode, and that makes it possible to track the protein and we can track it wherever it goes in the system,” Kuznetsov said. Instead of confirming laboratory tests, “it is better to inform design. There is a lot of AI and machine learning development, a lot of design on the computer. We focus on a specific cancer target, we determine what is on the cancer cells and what the cancer cells are, and in particular where the cancer cells are going to go – and we don’t go anywhere else.

The problem here is that at this stage you will see a thousand different proteins, each of which can be distinguished from the other by a pair of amino acids, the building blocks that give shape and function of the proteins.

It is the place where the Manifold barcodes come in. Each protein, although identical, acquires a completely unique and distinctive identity when it comes to proprietary DNA conversion. 100 equal molecules enter the mouse, probably 95 do nothing, 3 are associated with cancer and 2 are highly associated. These are 98 molecules that you need to take for further testing.

This screening process removes a lot of uncertainty from the calculation, because you know that this protein actually works in the mammalian system that you plan to make. And this, after a combination of design and low noise, is relatively inexpensive and precisely the first parts of the process.

From left, Manifeld co-founders Gleb Kuznetsov, Shane Lofgren and Pierce Ogden.

The hard part was designing the tags themselves. If you think about it, every little protein barcode should meet a really high bar.

“There is a unit of molecular biology but there are many aspects of computation that can be used to identify these factors. They should also not affect the behavior of the drug, and they should be stable, recognizable, unique and productive, “said Kuznetsov. Coming to the parallel process, he compared it to a change in a computer.

To be clear, this is not about overcharging other companies – Manifold’s goal is to build a fully integrated pharmaceutical company based on this biotech-enhanced experimental approach.

Manifold Bio staff works in their wet lab.

“We are going from end to end,” Kuznetsov said. “We have made the drugs at home, we have emptied those molecules, put them in vivo tests, and they will soon be in clinical trials.”

Their seed cycle is to build the foundation and showcase the work of technology – what it has done so far. The $ 40 MA round is about to start the most expensive and standardized clinical trial. The company is currently focusing on cancer, because this is not only a big risk, but also a good correlation with the types of drugs that are undergoing this process.

The company is run by Kuznetsov and its co-founders, but genetic pioneer George Church helped start and build the company. He is currently a counselor.

The new round of funding was led by Triatomic Capital, with new investors from Part 32, FPV Ventures, Horizons Ventures and Tencent and existing investors PlayPlay Global, 50 years and fast with the participation of Gettilb.

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