Molecular testing system developer Isoma was spun out from Wistar but has also licensed intellectual property from University of Pennsylvania.
Isoma Diagnostics, a US-based molecular testing spinout from biomedical research centre Wistar, has obtained an undisclosed amount of seed capital from investors including regional commercialisation alliance University City Science Center.
A spokesperson for Wistar Institute told Genome Web the deal had raised a six-figure dollar sum.
Seed fund Ben Franklin Technology Partners also took part in the round. University City Science Center invested through its Phase I Ventures program, which provides patient capital in sectors such as biotech and pharmaceuticals.
Founded in 2017, Isoma Diagnostics is developing a molecular diagnostics system that helps classify patients with an aggressive cancer originating in the brain called glioblastoma, so that clinical researchers might develop more personalised strategies for treatment.
The cash will fund development of assays for Isoma’s test as it looks ahead to clinical trials.
Isoma holds licences from both Wistar Institute and University of Pennsylvania. The spinout was co-founded by Donald O’Rourke, professor of neurosurgery at Wistar and University of Pennsylvania’s Brain Tumor Centre, together with CEO Steven Davis.
Isoma’s other co-founders are Louise Showe, scientific director of Wistar’s genomics and bioinformatics facilities, and Ramana Davuluri, who left Wistar in 2014 to become professor of biomedical informatics at Northwestern University.
Ben Franklin Technology supplied an undisclosed amount of funding in February 2018 through its southeastern Pennsylvania unit, however it is unclear whether the capital has been included in the seed round.
