Ancilia Bio uses its CoVE™ platform to computationally identify and characterize the virome, then applies its EPIC CRISPR‑Cas system to engineer bacteria with programmable immunity against destructive viruses. This enables the creation of live bacterial therapeutics and industrial biotech strains that remain effective despite viral threats, accelerating product development for pharma and biotech customers.
Funding
$4.2M raised to dateRaised to date based on public sources. This may differ from the amount the company actually raised and is based only on what is publicly available on the internet.
3OFounders
Product
Problem
Beneficial bacteria intended for therapeutic and industrial applications are vulnerable to diverse viruses that can destroy them, limiting the development and reliability of live biotherapeutic products. Identifying and characterizing the vast, heterogeneous virome is technically challenging because viruses lack universal marker sequences.
Solution
Ancilia Bio addresses these challenges with its CoVE™ platform, which computationally discovers and characterizes viral components of the microbiome. Leveraging the natural CRISPR-Cas immune system, the EPIC platform designs CRISPR-based defenses that “vaccinate” engineered bacteria against specific destructive viruses. This enables the creation of live bacterial therapeutics and industrial biotech strains that retain functional activity in the presence of viral threats. By integrating virome mapping with targeted CRISPR immunity, Ancilia Bio aims to unlock the full potential of beneficial microbes across medical and commercial applications.
Target Audience
Primary customers include pharmaceutical and biotech companies developing live bacterial therapeutics, as well as industrial biotechnology firms seeking robust microbial production strains.
Features
- Computational pipeline for comprehensive virome identification and characterization without reliance on universal viral markers
- CRISPR-Cas design tools that generate precise, programmable immunity against identified virome threats
- Engineering workflow to produce live biotherapeutic and industrial bacterial strains with built‑in viral resistance
- Platform scalability to address a broad range of virome‑associated challenges in health and biotechnology
- Integration of virome data and CRISPR designs to streamline product development cycles