PROVIDENCE – Genome Corp., a biotechnology startup company, today announced it has received a second round of investment from the state’s taxpayer-supported venture-capital fund.
The Slater Technology Fund has invested an additional $250,000 in Genome Corp., bringing its total investment in the six-month-old company to $500,000. The privately-owned Genome Corp. is working to develop and commercialize a new, cheap method for DNA sequencing that would make DNA mapping affordable for all patients, perhaps leading to a revolution in personalized medicine.
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Also today, Genome Corp. named a three-person scientific advisory board to guide development of the firm’s gene-sequencing technology.
The founding members of Genome Corp.’s advisory board are Norman J. Dovichi, an endowed professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Washington; Annelise E. Barron, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford University; and Patrick S. Doyle, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
All three are experts in emerging gene-sequencing technologies who have made significant individual contributions to the field, Kevin M. Ulmer, Genome Corp.’s president, co-founder and chief scientific officer, said in a statement today. “We have assembled a truly unique group of advisers to help guide the further development of our massively parallel Sanger sequencing technology,” Ulmer said.
Richard G. Horan, senior managing director of the Slater Fund, said Genome Corp.’s naming of a “world-class” scientific advisory board would greatly accelerate the company’s ability to advance its sequencing technology into commercialization.
“With the broad embrace of Sanger sequencing technology among genome researchers worldwide, we envision very rapid market penetration when implemented at scale,” Horan said.
The Slater Technology Fund, established in 1997 by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond and the R.I. General Assembly, provides seed capital to technology-based businesses in Rhode Island. Additional information is available at www.slaterfund.com.
Genome Corp. is a biotechnology startup, focusing on genomics, that is working to develop an affordable system of DNA sequencing based on “massively parallel” Sanger sequencing.
