Biologically Inspired Engineering, synbio, synthetic biology, crispr
Simons Chase 
Intrexon offered its common equity shares to the public in 2013 making it the first pure synthetic biology company to IPO. I wrote about the company in 2014. In its IPO disclosures, Intrexon said, “We believe we are the first company focused exclusively on applying synthetic biology across a broad spectrum of end markets and … Read more
China is slowly tightening its grip on one of its most valuable resources: health data. On July 3, China’s National People’s Congress of China published a draft Data Security Law, that represents a shift in the country’s data strategy. According to the National Information Center, China will pursue “asymmetric advantages in this new round of … Read more
Recent face offs at the Sino-Indian border are part of a long-term, low-grade military conflict over a border dispute. What’s different this time is India’s response. Rather than escalate militarily, the Indian government chose to express its sovereignty by banning Chinese apps from India. This is an economic response, and one remedy that is not … Read more
Freeline Therapeutics is a UK-based biotechnology company that develops liver-directed gene therapies for bleeding disorders and other diseases. Its therapies are based on a next-generation proprietary AAV vector platform, specifically a gene therapy to treat haemophilia B. The company plans to raise $125 million by offering 7.4 million ADSs at a price range of $16 … Read more
According to a report by the World Bank, China is well advanced in building a national innovation system (NIS) capable of supplying the innovation and technologies needed for a growing economy that is productivity-led. Currently, the country’s NIS focuses on discovering new innovations and accelerating the diffusion of technologies throughout to support a rapidly increasing … Read more
BeiGene was founded nearly ten years ago in China. Today, the company a lot more than a cute-sounding name. It is a commercial-stage, publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative molecularly-targeted and immuno-oncology drugs for the treatment of cancer. The Chinese biotech giant raised $2 billion in a registered direct offering in July. … Read more
Two research teams recently reported results from studies involving the long-term evaluation of non-invasive DNA fragments in blood. Evaluating these DNA fragments is called liquid biopsy, and this type of biopsy could vastly improve outcomes through early detection and low false positive rates for a wide variety of cancers. One result is Chinese and the … Read more
It all began with an unexpected discovery. CureVac’s founder, Dr. Ingmar Hoerr (a doctoral student at the time), discovered that when it was administered directly into tissue, the historically unstable biomolecule mRNA could be used as a therapeutic vaccine or agent after optimization—no complicated reformulations or molecular packaging needed. With a single discovery, CureVac opened … Read more
Admetsys is developing what can be described as an artificial pancreas for patients requiring precise glucose control in a hospital setting. I spoke with Jeff Valk, CEO, who aptly walked me through his company’s technology and its vital importance for, “The most metabolically variable humans on earth.” To put at-risk patients on a solid ground … Read more
One can think of the rapid growth of genome sequencing as producing a special kind of exhaust in the form immunologically relevant data that has accumulated in large quantities in databases around the world. Those databases can be mined. Immunoinformatics is emerging as an important tool at the intersection of experimental immunology and various computational … Read more