Kanvas Biosciences

Great perspective by Liam Drew on the impact of microbiome therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Thanks for featuring an image generated by the Kanvas platform! https://lnkd.in/d4bdvi5W

Excited to see this Science Alert article from Tessa Koumoundouros that supports a now very clear trend: Gut inflammation can have profound implications on human health. The implications range from the more obvious (like Colitis), to the more esoteric (like Alzheimer’s, as the research in this article suggests), and many things in between (like autoimmunity and cancer therapy responses).    At Kanvas, our spatial biology platform gives us the unique ability to untangle the associations between gut inflammation and human health, and ultimately identify what’s driving gut inflammation in the first place. In fact, not only are we able to uncover the underlying causes of gut inflammation, but with our therapeutic pipeline we’re also able to develop and manufacture live biotherapeutic products to treat drivers of gut inflammation – thereby opening up new therapeutic options for chronic diseases like Colitis and various cancers.   Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eevqHrqk  

Today, we’re thrilled to share the publication of our latest paper, ‘Spatial mapping of mobile genetic elements and their bacterial hosts in complex microbiomes,’ in Nature Microbiology. (https://lnkd.in/d8NruqAb). We conducted this research to better understand the spatial distribution of mobile genetic elements and identify their bacterial hosts – key information for deciphering microbial ecosystems. To access this key information, we:  - Leveraged recent developments in single molecule Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (FISH) tools - Optimized Mobile Genetic Element FISH (MGE-FISH) for high signal-to-noise ratio and specificity in complex microbiomes - Combined MGE-FISH with Kanvas Bio’s proprietary High Phylogenetic Resolution FISH (HiPR-FISH) taxonomic mapping technology The research demonstrates that spatial mapping of both mobile genetic elements using MGE-FISH and taxonomic spatial organization using HiPR-FISH is a powerful method for studying microbial ecology. By employing an imaging-based approach, we’re able to directly link mobile genetic elements with their hosts, which has so far been challenging with standard metagenomic sequencing methods. Massive kudos to the paper authors and Kanvas Bio Scientific Advisory Board Chair, Iwijn De Vlaminck!

We're introducing a new drug candidate in our immuno-oncology program, KAN-003! https://lnkd.in/dwA38ci7

Like most of the biotech industry, we recently attended the BIO International Convention in San Diego. It’s a massive event that attracts more than 20K attendees, and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with prospective partners one-on-one to discuss possible licensing and collaborations. While our focus was primarily on partner meetings, we wanted to share a few of our takeaways from this year’s event:  - Big pharma continues to struggle with looming patent expirations, so acquiring and/or licensing new products is a priority. A recent report from Ernst and Young states that from 2023 - 2028, up to $350B in revenue will be lost through patent expirations (https://lnkd.in/et8mpQDk). This presents a timely opportunity for biotech startups like us, particularly because our drug candidates are designed for big indications (like cancer) and can offer significant revenue potential. - AI was (unsurprisingly) a hot topic, but practical use cases for the technology were of particular interest. Jamie Metzl an impactful example of a biotech use case for AI during his talk on the Superconvergence of How the Genetics, Biotech and AI Revolutions Will Transform our Lives, Work, and World (https://lnkd.in/ezM354hs). He explained that to solve a protein crystal structure with crystallography, you’d need at least three years. However, AlphaFold – an AI system developed by Google DeepMind that predicts a protein's 3D structure from its amino acid sequence – has provided the structures of more than 300,000 proteins in just one year – saving researchers ~1 million years of effort! - The number of acquisitions of R&D-stage biotech companies (or those with less than $1B in sales) was the highest on record in 2023. According to a BIO Industry Analysis presentation and Biomedtracker, consistent transaction volume year-over-year suggests that M&A is a core component of the biotech acquisition ecosystem. In fact, our own growth strategy includes an acquisition: By acquiring FedBio last year, we were able to evolve from an innovative technology company to a full-stack therapeutics company with active clinical programs and an expanded leadership team (https://lnkd.in/ed2jkyic). - Massive opportunity remains in unlocking the power of the microbiome. Of the companies that presented at BIO, we only recognized two focused on the microbiome: Azitra Inc and Concerto Biosciences. We also had the pleasure of meeting with Microbiotica and Microba Life Sciences. To drive pharma momentum for novel microbiome-based therapeutics, those of us working in this sector will need to produce positive efficacy data in indications outside of infectious disease (like C. diff).

Excited to be attending the Oxford Global Spatial Biology Meeting this week in Boston. Lots of interest in the spatial mapping of host-microbiome interactions with Kanvas technology!

Earlier this week, Kevin Mayer published a fantastic article in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News that discusses the promising future of microbiome therapeutics and how new options are emerging beyond donor-derived products. Given Kanvas Bio’s focus, we were particularly excited to see Mayer’s mention of microbiome therapeutics being developed to work in combination with checkpoint inhibitors (a type of immunotherapy that can help fight a variety of cancers). Kudos to the thoughtful industry experts surveyed in the article, including Bernat Olle, Herve Affagard, MBA, Eng., Daniel Brownell and Vincent Jannin. Microbiome therapeutics have the potential to fundamentally alter how we treat disease and it’s an honor to contribute to such a game-changing area of science. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eZWQcryy 

Earlier this week, Kevin Mayer published a fantastic article in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News that discusses the promising future of microbiome therapeutics and how new options are emerging beyond donor-derived products. Given Kanvas Bio’s focus, we were particularly excited to see Mayer’s mention of microbiome therapeutics being developed to work in combination with checkpoint inhibitors (a type of immunotherapy that can help fight a variety of cancers). Kudos to the thoughtful industry experts surveyed in the article, including Bernat Olle, Herve Affagard, MBA, Eng., Daniel Brownell and Vincent Jannin. Microbiome therapeutics have the potential to fundamentally alter how we treat disease and it’s an honor to contribute to such a game-changing area of science. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eZWQcryy