Indee Labs was founded in August 2015 with a 'mission to democratize gene-modified cell therapies' such as chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T). The team is developing a novel transfection technology that can rapidly and efficiently deliver a variety of genetic material (e.g., DNA, RNA, protein and/or various complexes) to human primary immune cells in seconds.
The core technology, microfluidic vortex shedding (µVS), uses a microscopic fluid dynamics phenomenon based on vortex shedding to hydrodynamically porate the cell membrane allowing for the deliberate introduction of genetic material to human primary immune cells. Vortex shedding is not a new phenomenon. It can be observed as water flows past boulders in rivers while also being seen as clouds drift over mountains.
µVS is not the only transfection technology, however, it is shown to be able to rapidly deliver a range of genetic material to human primary immune cells with high cell recovery, high cell viability and high efficiency and high throughput. Furthermore, µVS results in negligible perturbation of immune cell proliferation, activation, exhaustion, phenotype, function nor transcriptome-wide gene expression. µVS is also induced with a 5 mm x 10 mm microfluidic device manufactured using industry-standard semiconductor processes. Cumulatively, this means µVS is an extremely scalable, gentle and robust alternative to incumbent technologies such as viral transduction and electroporation.
As of May 2018, Indee Labs had accumulated more than USD$6.1 million dollars in angel, venture and non-dilutive capital.
In July 2017, Indee Labs closed USD$1.3M in accelerator and angel financing from SOSV, IndieBio, Jude Gomila, Shaun Maguire, Y Combinator and Jaffray Woodriff (executed by his family office, Felton Group, LLC) among others.
In May 2018, Indee Labs closed out a seed round resulting in USD$2.6M in angel and venture financing from Founders Fund, Main Sequence Ventures, Social+Capital also among others.
Non-dilutive Funding
BioMedTech Horizons Precision Medicine
MTP Connect
AUD$891,500
2018-20
Medical Device Fund
NSW Health
AUD$500,000
2018
Minimum Viable Product
Jobs for NSW
AUD$15,000
2016
https://www.jobsfornsw.com.au/our-products/minimum-viable-product
Phase I SBIR
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease
USD$300,000
2020-21
https://www.business.gov.au/assistance/research-and-development-tax-incentive
Timeline
Indee Labs presents at MF-9, the Ninth Microfluidics Consortium.
Indee Labs mentioned by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission.
Indee Labs selected for the Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Healthcare Innovations Venture Investment Forum.
Indee Labs featured by Eagar & Martin Patent & Trademark Attorneys.
Amy Twite presents a Lightning Talk at Synbiobeta.
Indee Labs closes $1.3M Angel Round.
Indee Labs selected to present at Australian-American Enabling Technologies Meeting.
Indee Labs launches at Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 Demo Day.
Funding rounds
People
Brandon Sytsma
Bioengineer
Christian Meyers
Investor
Courtney Broadus
Investor
Dylan Flood
Investor
Jay Zaveri
Investor
Jeff Chang
Investor
John Moyer
Investor
Jude Gomila
Investor
Justin Jarrell, PhD
Vice President, Research
Leah Wilson
Bioengineer
Rob McInnes
Investor
Ryan Flynn
Investor
Ryan Pawell
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Shaun Maguire
Investor
Further reading
Intracellular delivery of mRNA to human primary T cells with microfluidic vortex shedding
Amy A. Twite, Katherine H.W.J. Lau, Moein N. Kashani, Craig Priest, Jorge Nieva, David Gottlieb, Ryan S. Pawell
Pre-print
Intracellular delivery of mRNA to human primary T cells with microfluidic vortex shedding
Justin A. Jarrell, Amy A. Twite, Katherine H. W. J. Lau, Moein N. Kashani, Adrian A. Lievano, Julyana Acevedo, Craig Priest, Jorge Nieva, David Gottlieb & Ryan S. Pawell
Nature Scientific Reports