Immune cell mapping technology developer Immunai has emerged from stealth to commercialise inventions from Stanford and PICI labs.
Immunai, a US-based immune system profiling technology spinout of Stanford University and Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), has officially launched having raised $20m in seed capital from investors including venture firm TLV Partners and VC fund Viola Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Immunai has devised a technology that maps out immune system responses in granular detail to facilitate the design of immunotherapeutic drugs.
The technology defines each cell present within individual blood samples before putting the information into a database that allows researchers to identify biomarkers relevant to a given immune mechanism.
Immunai’s platform – part of an approach known as single-cell profiling – has attracted clinical partnerships with more than 10 medical centres in addition to multiple biopharmaceutical firms.
The funding has been earmarked for a recruitment drive and is expected to expand Immunai’s R&D program, building on an earlier peer-reviewed program exploring the origins of tumour-fighting T-cells.
Immunai’s core research team includes Ansuman Satpathy, assistant professor at Stanford University’s Department of Pathology, and Daniel Wells, a senior data scientist and member of the informatics lab at PICI.
