Charlotte Casebourne Stock, Professor Keith Martin and Associate Professor Raymond Wong
An Australian pre-clinical biotech company has secured seed funding to continue its work programming cells to unlock repair mechanisms – work that could one day provide retinal repairs for retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and other causes of blindness.
Mirugen, founded as a spin-out from the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), announced it had raised a total of AU$7.1 million, with $4.5 million coming from its recent seed financing round.
It also announced the appointment of experienced biotech entrepreneur Charlotte Casebourne Stock as Executive Chair and acting CEO.
If successful, we anticipate this approach will also translate to some of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, including age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt’s disease
Co-founded by Associate Professor Raymond Wong, and Professor Keith Martin, Mirugen builds on the Nobel Prize winning science behind cellular reprogramming. Its discovery platform leverages sequencing data, bioinformatics, and high-throughput screening to identify the optimal set of cellular instructions (‘transcription factors’) to ask one cell type to become another.
Prof Martin said the company’s lead candidate was part of its RP programme.
“For the 1.5 million individuals worldwide affected by retinitis pigmentosa, severe depletion of the light-sensing cells in the eye – the photoreceptors – is the cause of progressive visual loss,” Prof Martin explained.
“With Mirugen’s lead candidate, we target nascent stem cells in the eye, called Muller glial cells, to replace and regenerate the lost photoreceptors. If successful, we anticipate this approach will also translate to some of the leading causes of blindness worldwide, including age-related macular degeneration and Stargardt’s disease.”
Ms Casebourne Stock said Mirugen has the potential to become the pioneer for in vivo cell (re)programming.
“I am excited to join forces with the co-founders and investors for this next chapter: delivering proof of concept for our core technology; progressing towards IND (investigational new drug)-enabling studies; and building out a world-class leadership team as the foundations for Mirugen to become a resilient leader in this field.”
Investors in the company are named as Brandon Capital, Tin Alley Ventures, and the University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund, with partners CUREator and CERA.
