Exogene has been selected as one of ten innovative startup companies, working at the interface of biomedical and data science, to receive personalised mentoring and coaching as part of the KQ Labs accelerator programme, run by the Francis Crick Institute and funded by the medical research charity LifeArc in partnership with Cancer Research UK and UK SPINE.
The KQ Labs accelerator, aimed at accelerating early-stage startups, is a five-month programme consisting of weekly workshops and mentoring sessions led by hand-picked experts ranging from corporate partners and investors, to subject matter experts. The selected companies will also benefit from funding in the form of a convertible loan and introductions to key investors and major corporates.
The new cohort consists of companies looking to tackle health challenges and diseases including diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Exogene enables AI-powered discovery of T-cell-receptor(TCR)-based cell therapies to treat advanced solid tumours. Its artificial intelligence platform rapidly screens billions of TCRs from patients to computationally identify rare TCRs that can target and destroy cancer cells. The AI learns from the billions of interactions between TCR and cancer cells that Exogene analyses at its labs at the BioEscalator using a range of cutting-edge screening techniques.
The programme is supported by LifeArc, and in 2021, KQ Labs also has two new strategic partnerships; Cancer Research UK and UK SPINE are each funding a dedicated place focused on cancer and healthy-ageing.