20n Bio has raised a $3.3 million seed round led by BlueRun Ventures China.
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MALVERN, Pa., Dec. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 20n Bio (20n), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drug discovery company focusing on designing new proteins for therapeutics, has raised a $3.3 million seed round led by BlueRun Ventures China. 20n Bio will use the proceeds from the financing to expand its scientific team, establish a robust discovery platform, and start multiple early studies in oncology and other genetic diseases.
20n Bio's mission is to in silico generate new protein drugs with desired properties to address unmet medical needs.
20n was founded by Dr. Mingfu Zhu in September 2021 with its lab at Malvern, PA. Dr. Zhu had co-founded several artificial AI-powered biotech companies in drug discovery and cancer diagnostics previously. He had been assumed executive roles at leading biotech companies in the US and China and was an Assistant Professor at Duke University Medical Center. Hampered by the astronomical search space (the search space for a protein sequence with n amino acids is 20n), it remains challenging to design protein drugs rationally. With recent advances in algorithms and computing powers, there is huge interest in design protein both in academia and in the industry. 20n's core technologies integrate advanced algorithms and high-throughput in vitro technologies to design protein binders for desired targets with desired properties. "The successful development of COVID-19 vaccines by Biontech and Moderna demonstrates the great potential of mRNA therapeutics. In addition to mRNA vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer, there is substantial interest in developing mRNA-encoded proteins as drugs," said Mingfu Zhu. "20n focuses on designing novel mRNA-encoded proteins for therapeutics. We have identified unique use cases to fully leverage the potential of protein binders. With the vision to in silico generate protein drugs on demand, we have assembled an experienced team in antibody development, computation biology, molecule biology, and RNA biology to achieve our goals." "BlueRun Ventures invests in cutting-edge technologies and appreciates the power of AI in drug discovery and development," added BlueRun Ventures Managing Director Terry Zhu. "We believe 20n's AI-powered protein design platform holds tremendous promise, and we are very proud to lead the initial financing round to support the company's vision to find effective treatments for a wide range of devastating diseases." 20n plans to quickly scale its current team of five full-time Ph.D.-level employees and hire more scientists in computational protein design and RNA biology. The company recently added two computational structural biologists Dr. Yaoqi Zhou at Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, and Dr. Longxing Cao at Westlake University who is also a finalist of MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 Asia Pacific 2021 to its Scientific Advisory Board. About 20n Bio About BlueRun Ventures China Contacts:
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