Novartis backs Harvard spinout's quest to build TCR repository in $48M round
As T cell receptors emerged as a potent tool for the immune system to latch onto tumor antigens, Stephen Elledge wanted to screen antigen-TCR matches in a faster, more systematic way — one that would go beyond currently known targets but stop short of the new realms of neoantigens bioinformatic predictions.
So the Harvard professor spent the last 7 years consolidating new tech to come up with a platform that can run multiple TCRs against antigen epitopes and pinpoint the exact pairs that appear to interact. There’s also a built-in library of the human peptidome to flag any off-target effects and prevent safety scares down the road.
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