Tessel awarded up to $4.2M by ARPA-H

We’ve been awarded up to $4.2M by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to help make the “animal-free IND” a reality! (Here’s our full press release.)

Human cells can simulate human disease. So, why must we rely on Pinky and the Brain to tell us what drugs work?

Through the CATALYST program, we’re generating the quality and quantity of data it will take to predict drug safety and advance the frontier of AI x Bio. By modeling the function of human organs in vitro – think gut, kidney, and blood-brain barrier – we will help train virtual tissues that can predict where drugs go and what they do.

It has not escaped our notice that the models we’re building can also predict drug efficacy. Indeed, we’re already using this platform to discover and develop our own drugs…

We’re grateful for the forward-thinking support of Andy Kilianski and team at ARPA-H, and we’re thrilled to be working with all of our partners in the PREDICTS consortium: Deep Origin, Ginkgo Bioworks, Netrias, ImmVue, Sanford Burnham Prebys, and MIDO.

Let’s go!

– Naren