Dewpoint Therapeutics, a Cambridge, MA- and Dresden, Germany-based company translating biomolecular condensates into drug discovery, raised $60m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Polaris Partners with participation from Samsara BioCapital, 6 Dimensions Capital, EcoR1 Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Leaps by Bayer.
Founded by Anthony Hyman of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and Richard Young of the Whitehead Institute, Dewpoint is translating new insights into biomolecular condensates and cellular function to uncover treatments for the toughest diseases.
Biomolecular condensates have long been known but historically understudied because they are difficult to analyze with traditional drug discovery methods like protein crystallography and biochemical activity assays. Condensates are well-defined, membrane-less organelles found inside cells that take advantage of intrinsically disordered regions of proteins to organize certain proteins and nucleic acids in cells, bringing them together in high concentrations to enhance the chemical reactions critical for the cells’ lives.
Disease areas affected by condensates include cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, immunology, cardiovascular, women’s health, and virology.
Dewpoint’s advisory board spanning is chaired by MIT Institute Professor Phillip Sharp and includes:
- Simon Alberti, Professor and Chair of Cellular Biochemistry at the Biotechnology Center (BIOTEC), Center for Molecular and Cellular Bioengineering (CMCB), Technical University Dresden
- Arup Chakraborty, Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering and Professor of Physics and Chemistry at MIT
- Bradley Hyman, John B. Penny, Jr. Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Alzheimer’s unit at Mass General Institute for Neurological Disease
- Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead Institute Founding Member and Professor of Biology at MIT
- Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT
- Timothy Mitchison, Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Harvard Therapeutics Innovation Hub (I-Hub)
- Rohit Pappu, Edwin H. Murty Professor of Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Center for the Science & Engineering of Living Systems (CSELS) at Washington University in St. Louis
Nashat and Tony Hyman will be joined on the board by Dewpoint Chief Scientific Officer Mark Murcko, Srinivas Akkaraju of Samsara BioCapital, and Wei Li of 6 Dimensions Capital.
FinSMEs
30/01/2019