Zyentia in successful closure of funding round

Zyentia, the UK company built around innovative and proprietary technologies relating to mechanisms of peptide and protein folding, conformation and aggregation, has successfully closed a funding round that raised £1.5m.

The aggregation of proteins is the underlying cause of a number of medical disorders, including type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases and some 25 other, less common, medical conditions. Zyentia has developed technologies that enable it to intervene rationally in the aggregation behaviour of the proteins involved in these diseases. It is applying these technologies to the discovery of novel therapeutics.

The Zyentia technologies arose from many years of research in the Department of Chemistry in Cambridge University and prior to that in Oxford University, under the direction of Professor Chris Dobson. 'My group has spent a great deal of effort in extending our knowledge of why proteins aggregate and in developing an understanding of the biological consequences of the formation of these aggregates,' said Professor Dobson, a founder of Zyentia and chair of the scientific advisory board.

'There is now little doubt that the aggregation process generally produces species that are toxic to cells. The location in the body in which the aggregating protein is present determines the disease pattern that is manifested in different circumstances. It is very exciting to see our recent discoveries being used to develop novel treatments for these serious medical conditions.'