On July 21, 2020 QUANTRO Therapeutics GmbH reported that the company has established its operations with seed financing from Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) and Evotec (Press release, QUANTRO Therapeutics, JUL 21, 2020, View Source;utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=quantro-therapeutics-delighted-to-join-biotech-austria [SID1234578387]). As a research-based company, QUANTRO will combine and exploit innovative functional genetics and transcriptomics technologies to generate an unprecedented drug discovery pipeline transforming the precision and scope of cell-based compound screens. By introducing ‘Transcriptional Fingerprinting’ to drug discovery, QUANTRO intends to revamp the scope of pharmacologic interventions in a variety of cellular, target and disease contexts. A prime focus will be the discovery and development of drug candidates blocking the activity of oncogenic transcription factors, a class of particularly promising therapeutic targets that has so far remained largely unamenable to pharmacological intervention.
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The company was founded by Dr. Stefan Ameres and Dr. Johannes Zuber as a spin-off of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), both located in Vienna, Austria. Bringing together expertise in time-resolved transcriptomics and functional genomics, the founders have pioneered innovative methods to study gene regulatory functions of oncogenic transcription factors and drugs in a variety of cellular models. Supported by two Proof-of-Concept grants of the European Research Council (ERC), they explored new applications of these cutting-edge technologies, thereby laying the groundwork for QUANTRO’s discovery pipeline. Meanwhile, the team has been reinforced by extensive pharma R&D and senior executive experience with Dr. Dieter Nachtigall, who is a chemist by training and has been appointed CEO of QUANTRO. Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Evotec acquired equal minority stakes in QUANTRO and will be represented on the Company’s Supervisory Board by Dr. Sebastian Kreuz and Dr. Dirk Ullmann, respectively. Furthermore, Evotec will provide hit identification services for QUANTRO’s proprietary anti-tumor projects.
Dr. Dieter Nachtigall, Chief Executive Officer of QUANTRO, said: "QUANTRO Therapeutics has designed and set up a new discovery approach and technology platform based on world-leading scientific expertise by our founders and excellent support from our highly committed corporate venture partners. We are extremely motivated and ambitious to start operations in our facilities at the Startup Labs Vienna Biocenter and turn our vision of identifying and developing new anti-cancer agents with breakthrough potential into a reality."
Dr. Sebastian Kreuz, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Funds, added: "The BIVF focuses on groundbreaking therapeutic approaches and technologies that have the potential to advance patient care in areas of high unmet medical need. We are looking forward to supporting QUANTRO and its dedicated founders to apply time-resolved RNA sequencing in an industrialized setting with the aim to unlock transcription factors as a highly promising target class for drug discovery in oncology and other disease areas."
Dr. Werner Lanthaler, Chief Executive Officer of Evotec, commented: "QUANTRO is a very promising academic spin-off company with great potential to lead the way in time-resolved RNA sequencing with a potentially ground-breaking technology to address ‘undruggable’ drug targets. Through our partnership and equity investment, we will further validate QUANTRO’s approach and hope to be able to open many new doors across a broad range of therapeutic modalities together in the future."
Dr. Stefan Ameres, Founder and Scientific Advisor of QUANTRO, commented: "The definition of direct transcription factor targets and, more generally, the unbiased detection of direct transcriptional effects has remained challenging due to the limited time resolution of conventional techniques for gene perturbation and transcriptional profiling. Overcoming this hurdle adds great possibilities for new therapeutic interventions with previously inaccessible targets in different cancer types and disease contexts."
Dr. Johannes Zuber, Founder and Scientific Advisor of QUANTRO, added: "Transcription factors shape and maintain the identity of cancer cells and have long been recognized as promising therapeutic targets. After studying these factors and their therapeutic potential for many years, QUANTRO’s discovery pipeline takes an unprecedented approach to finally exploit transcription factors for cancer therapy."
QUANTRO Management Board and Team
Dr. Dieter Nachtigall, CEO of QUANTRO, holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and contributes 23 years in pharmaceutical research and development experience to QUANTRO. Additionally, he brings more than 10 years in senior executive roles at Boehringer Ingelheim.
Dr. Stefan Ameres, Founder and Scientific Advisor of QUANTRO, is a distinguished expert in RNA biology and transcriptomics and has since 2012 held the position of group leader at the IMBA, Vienna. Dr. Ameres has a track-record of highly ranked publications in Nature, Cell, Science and other peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Johannes Zuber, also Founder and Scientific Advisor of QUANTRO, is a licensed MD and renowned expert in functional cancer genetics. He has been a group leader at the IMP, Vienna, since 2011, and his outstanding scientific accomplishments are documented in more than 160 publications in highly ranked journals.