Microba Life Sciences, a precision microbiome science company based in Australia, showcased its therapeutic platform and discovery platform for the identification of novel microbial signatures at Microbiome Movement, a European drug development summit, on January 27.
The event
The event brought together researchers from the biopharmaceutical industry to discuss the latest scientific discoveries and development progress, with the aim to translate this complex biology into effective therapies for improved patient outcomes.
Take aways from Microba’s presentation
Dr Páraic Ó Cuív, Vice President Drug Discovery at Microba, outlined how Microba’s platform technologies have enabled the rapid discovery of novel microbiome-derived therapeutic candidates in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
Leveraging a large metagenomic human microbiome dataset, Microba’s data-driven therapeutic platform interrogates the novel microbiome and uses advanced computational and molecular methods to isolate previously uncultivated microbial species.
By applying this novel approach to Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), Microba has identified new bacterial leads that promote mucosal healing and suppress key inflammatory pathways in pre-clinical studies. The candidate selection process was achieved in 18 months, with progress towards a Phase Ib clinical trial in 2022 demonstrating rapid translation from data to first in human studies.
Underlying this progress is an analysis platform technology that profiles the microbiome at high-resolution to discover novel species at low abundance rates, and advanced biostatistical methods to uncover the significance of those species in a disease setting.
Microba’s discovery platform powers the identification of these disease-associated microbiome signatures, using advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to address the analytical challenges that complex microbiome data generates.
Dr Alena Pribyl, Senior Scientist at Microba, demonstrated further applications of these technologies in the Microbiome-based Biomarkers & Patient Stratification workshop at the event. Alongside Gerard Honig, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and David Hava, Synlogic, Dr Pribyl discussed how precisely measuring the microbiome is driving new opportunities for biomarker discovery which can provide extensive clinical benefits in the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
