The Illumina Accelerator just invested in four new startups as part of its third funding cycle. The gene sequencing giant will provide seed funding of $100,000, business guidance, lab space in the Bay Area and access to Illumina’s next-gen machinery and reagents.
Illumina’s accelerator is meant to propel genomics-related startups forward in six month increments. Applications to participate in the next round of startups are due March 1, 2016.
The companies for this cycle are:
Vitagene: Brings precision medicine to the vitamin and nutrition industry. Vitagene has an algorithm that provides a personalized supplement regimen, using data from a patient’s lifestyle, blood panel and genetics.
Skinomics: A skin microbiome startup formed at UCLA – using genomics information from the cutaneous microbiome to develop therapies for acne and other skin conditions.
NextGen Jane: A Harvard University spinout that educates women about their bodies by using genomics. It tracks biomarkers predictive of disease – such as sexually transmitted infection – informing women particularly of asymptomatic conditions that could impact their reproductive health.
MetaMixis: A synthetic biology startup spun out of the University of British Columbia. Its platform rapidly discovers enzymes and pathways, so as to engineer cells that can produce a wide range of bio-based materials and chemicals.
[Image courtesy of Flickr user Science Museum]