Magnitude sizes up $194,000

Magnitude Biosciences, a UK-based ageing research company spun out of Durham University, yesterday received £150,000 ($194,000) in a round featuring the EU-backed North East Innovation Fund.
Saker Capital, a speciality real estate investment and advisory firm, also supplied Magnitude with funding.
Founded in September 2018, Magnitude Biosciences is progressing research into compounds such as food additives and drugs with the potential to affect the ageing process.
Magnitude Biosciences utilises an automated “healthspan” machine which samples large quantities of C.elegans, a minute tubular species of nematode worm suited to ageing tests because of its brief life expectancy and diminutive stature.
The machine is intended to help ageing researchers and drug developers overcome difficulties in achieving the sampling scale and time necessary for credible trials, as ageing is an inherently variable and lengthy process.
Magnitude Biosciences will advance the work of researchers led by David Weinkove, an associate professor in the Department of Biosciences whose lab studies the C.elegans worm.
Magnitude Biosciences currently has four employees including a recently-recruited chief operating officer, John O’Brien, whose appointment was funded by Northern Accelerator, a regional commercialisation partnership between Durham and Newcastle universities.
Northern Accelerator is backed by the UK government’s $125m Connecting Capability Fund as well as the EU-owned European Regional Development Fund, whose involvement has seemingly continued despite the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
David Weinkove said: “Ageing research is becoming more and more important in understanding conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“Our new research methods could help companies discover and develop new drugs or food additives that could improve the amount of time a person spends living a healthy life.”