Spartina Biotechnologies creates technology to battle Covid-19

Spartina Biotechnologies, a Santa Fe company founded in 2015 by Paul Laur and Richard Sayre, is raising money for a platform designed to battle disease such as Covid-19 and other viruses.

How does this platform work? Spartina Biotechnologies’ technology packages RNA, a type of genetic molecule, into exosomes, lipid vesicles shuttle proteins and genetic information between both neighboring and distant cells. The exosomes bind to the RNA and deliver it to certain cells in the body. The inhibits viruses in those cells from reproducing and helps to combat infection.

Cofounder and CEO Paul Laur states that, “This will effectively act like an antibiotic to knock out the infection.”

Spartina is currently attempting to raise an investment round of $1.5 million, which will allow the company to work through pre-clinical trials, and has raised about $750,000 to date.

The eventual goal is to partner with a pharmaceutical company to take the platform to clinical trials and onto production.

Laur said he left Pebble Labs in January 2021 after relaunching Spartina in September 2020. A release from the New Mexico Consortium notes that Spartina’s technology could be used to address Covid-19, however, Laur said the platform could be used for “all kinds of bioactive molecules.”

To read the entire article see: Spartina Biotechnologies raises money for technology designed to impede Covid-19 and other viruses

Above image of RNA is by Getty Images / CHRISTOPH BURGSTEDT/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY