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Biochemical superglue bonds with SpyBiotech’s vision of next-generation vaccines

Innovation Research

SpyBiotech, an Oxford University spinout developing a molecular superglue for rapid development of vaccines targeting a range of diseases, secures £4m seed funding at launch, led by Oxford Sciences Innovation with participation from GV.

SpyBiotech, an Oxford University spinout using “biochemical superglue,” that can facilitate the rapid development of robust and novel vaccines, has raised £4m at launch in seed financing to develop the technology.

The company gets its name from the bacterium Streptococcus pyogenes (Spy), the same organism behind a number of infections including strep throat and impetigo. The team behind SpyBiotech divided Spy into a peptide, SpyTag, and a protein partner, SpyCatcher. Naturally attracted to each other, the two form a covalent bond once combined.

SpyBiotech believes that this bond is the missing link to effective development and production of highly effective vaccines. The company will initially focus on virus-like particles (VLPs), a leading technology to induce immune responses by vaccination. 

Read more (Oxford University Innovation website)

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