With $30M, Octant Launches Synthetic Bio Search for Multi-Target Drugs
Summary
Kosuri joined the faculty at UCLA as a professor of chemistry and biochemistry in 2013 following a stretch in the lab of Harvard geneticist George Church, who leads synthetic biology at the university’s Wyss Institute. The two began talking about applying the tools of synthetic biology to the drug discovery process, and out of those discussions came Octant—today, a 20-person company headquartered in the Bay Area that aims to one day develop new treatments for conditions with manifold causes. The Octant team uses cells it engineers using synthetic biology not as therapies, but to better understand how small molecules impact cellular signaling pathways, CEO Kosuri says. Octant, instead, is looking to find drugs that have an impact on multiple targets in a bold bid to better address conditions that can’t be ameliorated by toggling on or off a solitary biochemical reaction. “This approach has the potential to systematically create exhaustive maps of drug targets that reveal novel treatments for our most intractable diseases,” wrote a16z’s Jorge Conde, who joins Octant’s board as part of the deal, in a post about the investment.
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