InVivo Biosystems, which employs CRISPR-edited organisms for biomedical discovery, has raised $3 million, the Eugene-based company announced Wednesday.
InVivo, formerly known as NemaMetrix, developed DNA testing equipment using organisms including nematode worms and zebrafish.
Rogue Venture Partners led the new investment round, which also included Portland Seed Fund, ONAMI and Launch Oregon.
InVivo plans to use the funds to further commercialization of CRISPR, a gene-editing technology the company uses in model organisms to accelerate drug discovery. Simply put, the company can place genetic material from patients with inherited diseases inside microscopic animals to determine the diseases’ nature and develop therapies. It spun out of a lab at the University of Oregon in 2012.
The company also announced that C. Palani Palaniappan is now chairman of the board of directors.
“The transformative power of CRISPR in real-world applications is becoming evident through recent drug approvals in curing sickle cell anemia or many forms of blood cancer are paradigm changing concepts of ‘living drugs,’” Palaniappan said in a written statement.
InVivo previously received a $2.8 million NIH grant to create an automated, AI-based monitoring system for zebrafish in its tanks, easing the burden on facility managers. It has an exclusive license from the University of Utah for a new CRISPR-enabling technology named MIC-Drop. The company also got a patent on its technology to create transgenic research animals bearing human versions of disease-causing genes.
This is not InVivo’s first funding round. It received a $5 million round led by Oregon Venture Fund in 2019, bringing its grand total at the time to $8.5 million, not including NIH grant funding.
