Microscopic image of lymph node tissue (Ed Uthman, Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/5K85C4)
21 Dec. 2022. A new company developing 3-D cell and tissue models of lymph nodes for discovery of immunotherapies is raising $4.3 million in seed funds. Parallel Bio Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, founded last year, is a graduate of the Y Combinator tech start-up incubator that aims to replace animal models for testing new immunotherapy drugs.
Parallel Bio creates small-scale lymph node models from human tissue to simulate their functioning in the immune system. Lymph nodes are small bean-shaped organs found in the neck, armpits, and groin that filter out waste and foreign invaders, such as viruses and bacteria, in lymph fluid that flows through. As part of the immune system, lymph nodes help protect against disease-causing invaders and fluid waste.
The company says its process produces small lymph node organoids that act as models for discovery and testing of drugs invoking the immune system. Parallel Bio says its organoids are derived from human tissue samples and can be designed to represent wide variations in human immune systems, with robotics employed to rapidly test immunotherapy candidates. In addition, says the company, findings from lymph node organoid tests train and extend machine learning algorithms for analyzing test results, providing more insights for drug discovery.
Antibodies for treating cancer and infectious diseases
The Parallel Bio technology is a product of earlier work by its founders Robert DiFazio and Juliana Hilliard, now the company’s CEO and chief scientist respectively. Prior to starting the company, DiFazio served as head of strategy and research development at the Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection in Stanford University’s medical school, where the institute developed the first human immune-system organoid model. Hilliard previously was a staff scientist at the company System1 Biosciences that worked on organoid development. She co-authored a paper posted in Aug. 2020 reporting on a brain tissue organoid derived from human tissue samples.
Parallel Bio says it so far developed organoids that discovered eight human antibodies for treating cancer and infectious diseases, and generated a proof-of-concept for a model of autoimmune disorders. In addition, the company says from its work to date, the company has created a biobank of widely diverse patient backgrounds for drug discovery. “We have proven,” says Hilliard in a company statement released through BusinessWire, “that our platform fully replicates human immune responses, produces antibodies against any disease target in 21 days, and can discover new immunotherapies to fight complex disease that we know will work in people from the start.”
Parallel Bio started-up in May 2021, and took part in the Y Combinator incubator class in the summer of 2021. The company is raising $4.3 million in seed funding led by led by health care investor Refactor Capital in Burlingame, California, with participation by Y Combinator, Breakout Ventures, Google AI senior vice-president Jeff Dean, plus a number of unnamed biotech-focused funds and senior executives at pharmaceutical companies.
The company expects to take advantage of pending legislation that encourages alternatives to animal testing in the U.S. for approval of new drugs and biologics by the Food and Drug Administration. The bill passed the Senate in September 2022 and is awaiting action in the House of Representatives.
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