NEWTON, Mass. – A Boston biotechnology company has joined the Innovation and Collaboration Space (ICS) community on the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst.
PepGen, Inc., a company advancing next-generation oligonucleotide therapies with the goal of transforming the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurological diseases, has located 12 of its employees in the ICS, occupying 20 lab benches as well as office and meeting space.
The Mount Ida Campus ICS offers co-working, lab and office space for early-stage companies interested in co-locating with UMass Amherst, the state’s flagship public research university. Consistent with the Mount Ida Campus mission to become a center for student experiential learning and professional development, ICS members are required to provide professional development opportunities for UMass Amherst students, including internships and networking opportunities. ICS tenants also have access to UMass Amherst’s core research facilities.
“The facilities at the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst have proven to be a terrific fit for us,” said Dr. Niels Svenstrup, senior vice president of discovery chemistry and manufacturing at PepGen, Inc. “PepGen is a very rapidly growing company developing a new and powerful technology for the delivery of precision medicines to target RNA. We are in a race with time to bring therapies to patients with debilitating rare diseases. Co-locating with UMass provides quality facilities and unique infrastructure support while allowing us to connect with students who will be future scientists and life sciences leaders.”
PepGen joins an evolving roster of eight to 10 organizations who make up the ICS community, currently including nanotechnology company Xheme, sports tech company CoachUp and the Massachusetts Export Center.
“PepGen’s focus on development of therapies for neuromuscular diseases represents an opportunity for UMass Amherst students interested in the life sciences and faculty with research or collaborations in this space,” said Kathryn Ellis, director of the UMass Innovation Institute. “We’re pleased to have their team join the ICS community and participate in our co-curricular professional development program, which is mutually beneficial to students seeking experience in biotechnology and to PepGen, which as a fast-growing company is interested in recruiting UMass Amherst graduates.”
The Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst is located at 100 Carlson Avenue in Newton, Mass., within the N-Squared Innovation District, five minutes from I-95 and eight miles from downtown Boston. Amenities available to ICS tenants include free parking, award-winning UMass Amherst dining, outdoor recreational facilities and on-site conference and event space. ICS tenants are also invited to participate in regular networking events.
For more information about the Innovation and Collaboration Space on the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst, please contact Kathryn Ellis at kathrynellis@umass.edu or visit umass.edu/mic/workspace.
About PepGen
PepGen, Inc. is a biotechnology company advancing next-generation oligonucleotide therapies with the goal of transforming the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurological diseases. PepGen’s proprietary Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotides (EDOs) are designed to target the underlying causes of rare genetic diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), in a safe and effective manner. In preclinical studies, PepGen’s enhanced delivery peptides demonstrated highly effective cell penetration and delivery of therapeutic candidates to multiple tissue types, including cardiac tissue. PepGen is backed by a strong syndicate of investors including RA Capital Management, Oxford Sciences Enterprises, and others. The company is headquartered in Boston. For more information, visit www.pepgen.com or follow PepGen on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About the Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst
The Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst serves as a center for student experiential learning, industry engagement, academic and research collaboration, and fundraising in Greater Boston, which is home to a plurality of UMass Amherst students and alumni. Acquired from the former Mount Ida College in 2018, the campus exists to connect the state’s flagship public research university to the Greater Boston business community and serves as a secondary instructional site for UMass Amherst, offering an undergraduate program in Veterinary Technology, graduate programs in Statistics and Business and Analytics, and graduate courses in Geographic Information Science and Technology.
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