Couragene co-founders awarded $40M NIH grant
Summary
The team behind North Brunswick-based genetic medicines company Couragene is getting a big boost from the National Institute of Healths Somatic Cell Genome Editing program.The company announced Oct. 10 that co-founders Dr. Yong-Hui Jiang and Jianbing Zhou were awarded a competitive UG3/UH3 grant totaling approximately $40 million, contingent on milestones.According to Couragene, the funding is a momentous step toward leveraging genome editing to combat neurogenetic diseases. The grant was awarded to the Yale School of Medicine to support the development of gene-editing platform technology that can reach the human brain.In its Oct. 3 announcement of the two-phase grant, Yale said the award will help fund research into a new CRISPR-based gene therapy platform to target genetic brain diseases. Center for Translational Research at RUSH University in Chicago, as well as Allyson Berent and Jennifer Panagoulias of the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics.Jiang, a professor of genetics, neuroscience and pediatrics, as well as chief of medical genetics of Yale New Haven Hospital, has made significant contributions to Angelman syndrome research in addition to being a leading researcher of H1-4 or HIST1H1E syndrome, according to Couragene.Zhou, meanwhile, is described as a leading expert in delivery systems for genetic medicine. The new platform, STEP-RNPs (ribonucleoproteins) uses chemical engineering to achieve delivery throughout the brain via a spinal tap.Jiang said that without treatment options for AS or H1-4 syndrome, affected families have few alternatives. Projections estimate that figure will reach $10.6 billion in the next five years.STEP is a versatile platform technology with the capacity to deliver various payloads.