Omne Possibile launched to harness transformative power of XNA in healthcare, information technology and smart materials
A pioneering, global technological leader in XNA creating customizable structures to outperform current DNA and RNA technologies
XNA is at the forefront of the synthetic biology revolution, forecast to transform medicine, agriculture, energy, consumer products and IT with a $4 trillion annual economic impact
Founded by leading European synthetic biologists
Leuven, Belgium, and Basel, Switzerland – 10 May 2021: Omne Possibile ("the Company"), a global synthetic biology company pioneering the XNA revolution, has been launched today to harness the power of XNA (xeno nucleic acids) to transform medicine, agriculture, energy, consumer products and information technology. XNA is at the forefront of the synthetic biology revolution, designed to overcome the constraints of the chemical structures of DNA and RNA technologies. It is forecast to have a $4 trillion annual economic impact over the next 10 to 20 years, greater than that of the internet.1
Patrice Garnier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omne Possibile, said: “Synthetic biology has been called the fifth industrial revolution. We believe XNA will be the dominant technology of the 21st century, with a profound impact on all aspects of our daily lives including healthcare, information technology, energy, transport and consumer goods. Omne Possibile unites leading European experts in the critical building blocks of synthetic biology and the key disciplines of XNA development. Our ambition is to convert Europe's advances in XNA technology into a global company that will lead the revolution in synthetic genetics.”
"Xenobiology will be to biology what astronautics has been to astronomy." adds Philippe Marlière, Chairman of the Board of Omne Possibile. "Through the diversification of the base alphabet and backbone motifs of DNA and RNA analogs, our company will provide the industry with a plethora of customized genetic polymers. Having brought together the most forward-thinking scientists and industrialists in the field, including two Nobel laureates, Omne Possibile is set to bring genetic polymers to market.”
Omne Possibile was co-founded by Patrice Garnier, an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience leading high-tech companies, Alexandre Mouradian, a seasoned and visionary investor, and by three of Europe’s leading synthetic biologists: Philippe Marlière, Scientific Director at ISSB Evry; Piet Herdewijn, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at KU Leuven; Sven Panke, Professor of Bioprocess Engineering at ETH Zürich.
The Company will initially focus on development of XNA polymers for information storage and XNA building blocks for improved messenger therapeutics:
- Storage XNA (sXNA) are seen as ideal candidates to manage the exponential growth of data in the coming decades, offering benefits in terms of capacity, energy use, space requirements and cost.
- Messenger XNA (mXNA) is designed to overcome the limitations of mRNA, the backbone of modern vaccine technologies in areas like viral infections and cancer. They also play key roles in genetic treatments and in agricultural pest control. mXNA offers the potential for greatly improved chemical functionality and biological stability, opening up significant new opportunities in healthcare and other fields.
Omne Possibile combines the key disciplines of XNA development, including chemical synthesis, genetics, directed evolution of enzymes and genomes, automated design of molecules, and bioproduction pathways. It has established an R&D innovation center in Leuven, Belgium, to focus on XNA chemistry, and a second R&D hub in Basel, Switzerland, dedicated to XNA genetics. It intends to grow rapidly through a combination of in-house development and industrial collaborations.
A scientific advisory board of leading industrialists and globally renowned scientists will be announced in the next few weeks to guide the Company’s strategy.
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About Omne Possibile
Omne Possibile is a pioneering, global technological leader in XNA, creating customizable structures to outperform current DNA and RNA technologies. Its goal is to harness the transformative power of XNA in areas including healthcare, information technology and smart materials. The Company’s initial focus is on development of XNA polymers for information storage and XNA building blocks for improved messenger therapeutics. Omne Possibile has R&D hubs in Leuven, Belgium, and Basel, Switzerland. It was founded by leading European synthetic biologists and is supported by a world class scientific advisory board. For more information, please visit www.omnepossibile.com
Contact
Omne Possibile
Patrice Garnier, Chief Executive Officer
info@omnepossibile.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Amber Fennell, Jonathan Birt, Melissa Gardiner, Carina Jurs
+44 (0) 203 709 5000
eurekare@consilium-comms.com
1 How the Bio Revolution could transform the competitive landscape, Michael Chui, Matthias Evers, Alice Zheng, McKinsey Quarterly, May 2020