Biotech company Shift Bioscience has expanded its North American presence with a new team and facility, which will be based in Toronto, Canada.
Lucas Camillo, Head of Machine Learning, will lead the Toronto team, who will contribute to the advancement of the company's discovery platform designed to identify rejuvenation gene targets.
By expanding its operations to North America, Shift Bioscience will have access to industry talent, assisting the company in further strengthening its IP portfolio and developing new capabilities for its virtual cell platform.
This move follows the close of Shift's USD $16m seed funding round in 2024, with it's main priority being to establish a presence in the key North American market.
The North American team will also assess further capabilities for the platform.
The site's Senior Advisor, Prof. Bo Wang, will work alongside Lucas to assist in the development of the company's technology.
Bo specialises in AI-powered virtual cells and works as an Assistant Professor at the Univeristy of Toronto, where his lab currently develops machine learning algorithms for healthcare and microbiology.
He is also the Chief AI Scientist for the University Health Network, a Canadian research hospital.
“North America boasts some of the world’s most successful AI companies, and the importance of being able to access the region’s extensive talent pool cannot be understated,” commented Lucas.
“I look forward to working closely with Bo to build out a world-class team of machine learning scientists, and to continue development of our virtual cell platform as an invaluable tool to unlock new gene targets that could potentially treat even the most debilitating of age-related diseases.”
Professor Bo Wang, Senior Advisor, Shift Bioscience, added: “Embracing the transformative power of AI is crucial to developing innovative treatments that can transform patient care. Shift Bioscience’s virtual cell technology is doing just that, unlocking new gene targets that have the potential to address the growing burden of age-related diseases,"
"I’m pleased to be joining the team, and to draw on my experience in cell simulation to accelerate the development of the Company’s powerful virtual cell platform.”