Samsara Therapeutics expands into new R&D lab space at the Wood Centre for Innovation
December 6, 2022
Biotech start-up Samsara Therapeutics, an early-stage drug discovery company, has expanded into a further 1,000 sq ft of R&D lab space at the Trust’s Wood Centre for Innovation to accommodate company growth.
The company moved into the centre in March 2021 with 8 people and has rapidly expanded to 16 and 2960 sq ft of lab and office space.
Founded in 2018 with backing from Berlin-based Apollo Ventures, Samsara Therapeutics is working on new therapies for extending healthy ageing and treating age-related and genetic diseases, including Parkinson’s, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Charcot-Marie Tooth disease (CMT). They do this by identifying molecules that induce the cellular process of autophagy, which decreases as people age and is dysfunctional in many illnesses.
The company has developed a unique platform, the LysoseekerTM platform, to identify potent autophagy modulators. Their focus is not just on treatment of disease symptoms but on the underlying cause. Currently there are no autophagy-inducing drugs in the clinic or on the market. Samsara aims to be the first company to introduce such a therapeutic.
The new CL2 lab space, together with a recent recruitment drive, will allow Samsara Therapeutics to increase the drug discovery and validation capabilities in key neuro disease areas.
Peter Hamley, chief scientific officer at Samsara Therapeutics said: “Taking lab and office space at The Oxford Trust’s Wood Centre for Innovation has allowed us to expand our research and grow organically, which is incredibly valuable for a biotech start-up such as Samsara.”
“With this additional space and recruitment of additional staff, we are confident that we will make significant progress towards developing disease-modifying therapeutics for patients living with debilitating neurological diseases. There is compelling evidence from human genetics that many diseases are driven by autophagy dysfunction. Samsara Therapeutics mission is to discover new mechanisms which can restore autophagy and deploy new drugs to target these mechanisms.”
Steve Burgess, chief executive officer, The Oxford Trust added: “We are pleased to be able to accelerate lab provision at our Wood Centre for Innovation that provides early-stage companies such as Samsara Therapeutics space and the opportunity to achieve their quest. We wish them continued success.”
Great news, Samsara!
