Gates Foundation Grants $3 Million To University Of Melbourne Affiliated Startup

Study in Australia: The startup's name is Cell Bauhaus and it has received a $3 million grant to improve its strain engineering platform.

Gates Foundation, earlier known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has granted $3 million to the University of Melbourne-affiliated startup Cell Bauhaus to research how genetic changes affect cellular behaviour using digital twins.

"#UniMelb affiliated startup Cell Bauhaus has received a $3 million grant from the @gatesfoundation to continue their work utilising digital twins to investigate how genetic changes alter cellular behaviour. The grant was awarded through the Foundation’s Accelerator program to continue to pioneer the designs of cells in silico. The technology in production will offer unparalleled insights into cell behaviour across millions of real-world scenarios, such as food security," reads the message of the University Of Melbourne on the X platform.

Cell Bauhaus Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr Megan Coomer said, "The grant was a significant milestone for the company. This grant will enable us to expand our resources and global reach. Our multidisciplinary team of scientists engineer every component of a cell with precision, to create a virtual twin of biological cells on a computer, known as digital twins."

“There is an urgent need to revolutionise the development of new biotechnological solutions to tackle food security and climate change; doing this digitally as opposed to in a lab, means significantly reducing costs and resource time. We will build on this opportunity and hope to attract scientists and software engineers to join our dynamic team," added Dr Megan Coomer.

University Of Melbourne Startup Funding: More Details

The funding will help Cell Bauhaus expand research into additional fungal organisms and develop the startup's strain engineering platform. The aim is to improve performance while reducing costs in synthetic biology. It is expected that it will drive sustainable innovation in therapeutics and nutrition.

University of Melbourne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Professor Mark Cassidy, said, "The grant would build on early investments borne out of the University’s strategy to drive research translation to support growth of ventures from the University community. The University of Melbourne Genesis Pre-Seed Fund in partnership with Breakthrough Victoria and the Tin Alley Ventures fund, a joint venture with Tanarra Capital, were early investors in Cell Bauhaus and continue to support the team on their mission. We are thrilled the internationally renowned and respected Gates Foundation has awarded the Cell Bauhaus team with this grant, which will help the company grow and attract top talent for its next phase.”

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