UCSD-founded Shape Therapeutics has collected series A cash from NEA and CureDuchenne Ventures to progress its RNA gene editing technology.
Shape Therapeutics, a US-based RNA gene editing technology spinout of University of California, San Diego (UCSD), procured $35.5m of series A funding led by venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates yesterday.
The round also included a commitment from CureDuchenne Ventures, the philanthropic venture arm of Duchenne muscular dystrophy-focused research charity CureDuchenne.
Founded in 2018, Shape Therapeutics is working on genome editing technologies that enable the development of gene therapies for human diseases by re-engineering pieces of human RNA, the nucleic acid responsible for synthesising new biological proteins.
Shape hopes to facilitate enhanced in vivo RNA editing by comparison to existing alternatives such as Crispr by limiting the risk of unintended genetic damage as well as immunogenicity, where biological substances provoke an immune response.
The capital will go towards broadening its intellectual property portfolio and recruiting additional scientists as it looks to commercialise RNA and protein-targeting editing platforms. Ed Mathers, partner at NEA, has joined the board of directors.
The spinout grew from research conducted by Prashant Mali, an assistant professor of bioengineering in UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering whose earlier achievements include work applying the Crispr system to human cells.
Mali previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Harvard Medical School lab of George Church, a professor of genetics appointed to Shape’s newly-formed scientific advisory board together with the series A announcement.
