Ribometrix, Inc., a Durham, NC-based biotech company, raised $7.5m in seed funding.
The round was led by SV Health Investors and Hatteras Venture Partners, with participation from AbbVie Ventures, the Dementia Discovery Fund, MP Healthcare Venture Management and Alexandria Venture Investments.
SV Health Investors Venture Partner Michael Solomon, PhD, is Ribometrix’s acting CEO. Joshua Resnick, MD, partner at SV, has joined Ribometrix’s board of directors as chairman. Also joining the board are Michael Dial, PhD, of Hatteras Venture Partners and John Gustofson of AbbVie Ventures, as well as Solomon and Weeks.
Co-founded by Kevin Weeks, PhD, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and inventor of the SHAPE technologies, and Katherine Warner, PhD, developer of methods for applying SHAPE to understand RNA structure, Ribometrix is dedicated to discovering and developing small molecule modulators of RNA to treat a wide range of diseases. The company’s platform uses SHAPE-MaP and RING-MaP to elucidate the 3D (as opposed to 2D) shape of RNA and to screen for small molecule modulators of RNA biology.
Potential benefits over current 2D-based approaches include selectivity, oral bioavailability, tissue distribution and central nervous system penetration.
Weeks and Warner serve as advisor and senior director of research at Ribometrix, respectively.
FinSMEs
31/10/2017