DALLAS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colossal Biosciences, the de-extinction company behind the woolly mammoth and thylacine, today announced the launch of Form Bio, a new independent company offering a breakthrough computational life sciences platform. Form Bio enters the market with an oversubscribed $30M Series A funding round led by JAZZ Venture Partners with participation from Thomas Tull, Colossal lead investor. Form Bio offers an advanced, comprehensive software platform that replaces cumbersome, code-heavy processes with simple, user-friendly software, empowering scientists to reach discoveries and breakthroughs in less time and with less effort. Form Bio is the first technology spinout from Colossal, whose strategy includes commercializing scientific innovations on its path to de-extinction through new, independently operating companies.
“Form Bio is the missing piece in scientific discovery,” said Ben Lamm, Colossal Co-Founder and CEO. “When you have a big scientific endeavor like de-extincting a species, you not only need the smartest scientists in the world, you need powerful software, much of which simply hasn’t existed until now. After reviewing everything available on the market, we chose to create our own software solution. Now, we want to share this modern, comprehensive platform with the broader community to impact other areas of scientific innovation, including human health.”
The biologists and data scientists at Colossal, who are embarking on a world-changing de-extinction journey, have also set out to address technical and computational hurdles in life science research. The Colossal team recognized the lack of necessary software capabilities in the market, and inadequacies of traditional bioinformatics processes, leading to the development of Form Bio as a commercially available platform. Form Bio’s offerings will be invaluable to life science breakthroughs across companies, labs and universities. The platform is designed to be transformative across an array of use cases including drug discovery, gene and cell therapy, manufacturing efficiency, academic research and much more.
“Science is entering an entirely new era in which advancements will not just treat diseases but cure them. Every scientific discipline tied to these types of innovations will unavoidably require rapidly analyzing enormous volumes of data,” said John Spinale, Managing Partner at JAZZ Venture Partners. "Form Bio has developed a cutting-edge solution to squarely address this data deluge while responding to the industry’s acute need for a simple, user-friendly platform to replace mountains of code, cumbersome data wrangling processes and underdeveloped tools,” he added.
Driven by deep learning AI algorithms, Form Bio empowers life scientists with a complete platform for managing large datasets, executing verified workflows, visualizing results and collaborating with their peers. Form Bio was created to bring these powerful capabilities together in one cohesive platform with an intuitive user experience designed to dramatically simplify computational work for biologists and other science professionals.
“With rising geopolitical tensions, now, more than ever, the U.S. needs to be investing in technologies and tools that help keep us competitive across the intelligence front,” said Thomas Tull, Form Bio investor. “Form Bio is a critical addition to both our public and private arsenals. With innovative software that sits at the intersection of biology and discovery and enables scientists to collaborate with greater ease, Form Bio is another proof point of Colossal’s ability to apply breakthrough technologies to make incredible scientific and technological advances.”
The Form platform brings together core components of data management, workflows, results visualization and collaboration in one cohesive solution. Included as part of Form is an extensive catalog of verified workflows, covering a wide range of scientific use cases from ancient DNA analysis to transcriptomics to AAV gene therapy. The platform also serves as a foundation for advanced, AI-based applications tailored to the needs of specific industries and academic fields.
“Colossal Biosciences is at the forefront of advancing genomics for a healthier planet. Combining AI, software and biology is the kind of innovative thinking and approach to problem-solving that compelled IQT to invest in Colossal from the start. We’re looking forward to watching how Form Bio will transform the field,” said Eugene Chiu, IQT Senior Partner, Investments.
“Computer-aided design, fabrication, testing analyses and machine learning are key to the future of bioengineering in general and specifically restoration of endangered and extinct genetic diversity for keystone species in vital ecosystems. Form Bio is the software critical to pave the way. As scientist-engineers we need these pipelines and look forward to faster breakthroughs in scientific discoveries and applications, now that software has caught up with science,” said Colossal Co-Founder George Church, Professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT and director of Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute in Boston.
Developed initially to advance de-extinction, Colossal’s team of computational biologists along with the team of scientists at the Church Lab, and over 35 geneticists at Colossal’s labs in Boston and Dallas, worked to develop and refine Form Bio’s core platform capabilities for the broader market.
With the launch of Form Bio, Kent Wakeford will transition from his day-to-day role as Colossal’s Chief Operating Officer to Form Bio Co-CEO, where he will work alongside Co-CEO Andrew Busey and support Colossal’s CEO and Board of Directors in an Executive Special Advisor role. Former Biolabs Chief Operating Officer, Adam Milne, has also joined Colossal as its new Chief Operating Officer. For more information on Form Bio, please visit www.formbio.com.
ABOUT COLOSSAL
Colossal was founded by emerging technology and software entrepreneur Ben Lamm and world-renowned geneticist and serial biotech entrepreneur George Church, Ph.D., and is the first to apply CRISPR technology for the purposes of species de-extinction. Colossal creates innovative technologies for species restoration, critically endangered species protection and the repopulation of critical ecosystems that support the continuation of life on Earth. Colossal is accepting humanity’s duty to restore Earth to a healthier state, while also solving for the future economies and biological necessities of the human condition through cutting-edge science and technologies. To follow along, please visit: www.colossal.com.
WEBSITE & SOCIALS
Website: www.colossal.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ItIsColossal
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Hashtag: #ItIsColossal
ABOUT FORM BIO
Form Bio is a new, cutting-edge research and discovery platform for individuals and enterprises in life sciences. With the most accessible, comprehensive and collaborative platform in the field, Form Bio empowers scientists to efficiently and effectively harness the proliferation of data and computing power that has transformed the science of discovery. Form offers end-to-end integration of the discovery process with intuitive and easy-to-use software applications, combined with an open and adaptable collaborative environment. Form Bio was developed within Colossal Biosciences and co-founded by Ben Lamm, Andrew Busey, and Kent Wakeford. For more information on Form Bio, please visit www.formbio.com
