Trucode is advancing in vivo gene editing applications for disorders including sickle cell disease that grew from Yale research and has been backed by GV and Kleiner Perkins.

Trucode Gene Repair, a US-based in-vivo gene editing technology company exploiting Yale University research, emerged out of stealth yesterday with $34m in funding co-led by venture firm Kleiner Perkins and GV, a corporate venturing arm of diversified conglomerate Alphabet.
The round’s other investors were not disclosed, though representatives of metabolic disease drug developer Akero Therapeutics and venture capital entity Walton, Mitchell and Co have joined the board of directors.
Trucode is working on gene editing technology that can be applied in vivo – within living models – to rectify mutations responsible for genetic disorders including sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis.
Trucode employs biodegradable polymer nanoparticles to insert engineered peptide nucleic acids (PNA) which rectify DNA onto a three-stranded helix. Once inserted into the body, the helix outputs modified genetic instructions.
The spinout’s technology extends work by teams under three professors at Yale University – Peter Glazer and Marie Egan from the School of Medicine, and Mark Saltzman from the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
The PNA element of its concept has been tested on animal models of cystic fibrosis and the inherited blood disorder thalassemia, and Trucode also holds rights to develop intellectual property from Carnegie Mellon University.
Krishna Yeshwant, general partner at GV, and Beth Seidenberg, general partner at Kleiner Perkins, have joined the Trucode board of directors, together with Andrew Cheng, chief executive of Akero Therapeutics, and Joseph Walton, partner at Walton, Mitchell and Co.
Seidenberg, also managing director of Westlake Village BioPartners, was described as the founding investor in the press release, though further details could not be ascertained.