Locus Biosciences, Inc.

Today, we are proud to share our progress supporting Crohn’s & Colitis Research! We’re committed to advancing science and supporting communities impacted by chronic illness. As part of our ongoing efforts, our team has been actively fundraising for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation.   Thanks to the incredible generosity of our network, we’ve already raised over $5,000, but there’s still more work to do! Every contribution fuels critical research and brings hope.  To donate, please visit: https://lnkd.in/ehSbYvpy

We are always learning at Locus and progress new ideas at an accelerated pace alongside exceptionally talented and hardworking individuals. Together our team breakthroughs challenges to address a serious unmet patient need by developing completely novel therapeutic modalities. Ava Ghobadian has worn many different hats at Locus, working across most of our departments. After expressing interest in the Clinical Development space, she was able to support the team first through a number of small projects, before fully transitioning to her permanent position. 

The Locus team is excited to participate in the Triangle Take Steps Walk on April 26th to support the work of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. Kristine F. recently visited the Locus Lounge to help our team get started. As Locus takes steps towards addressing unmet needs for patients with IBD, we are pleased to be working with the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation to raise funds for the Triangle Take Steps Walk. The foundation is a gold standard of patient advocacy and we invite you to join us in supporting the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. To donate, please visit: https://lnkd.in/ehSbYvpy

The Rotational Program here at Locus is well suited for those excited to learn all aspects of biotechnology drug development from early-stage research through drug product manufacturing. Even as a new graduate, being a part of the Locus team means having the chance to tackle large and meaningful projects. Zoe Fang was hired into the program and started on our Automation and AI team. After learning to operate our liquid handlers, she’s been able to apply those technical skills to support our translational medicine team. Zoe continues to optimize our current protocols on the robots, while spearheading our recent phage hunting efforts. 

At Locus Biosciences we do hard things. We value critical thinking, hard work, transparency, and a team-first attitude. Working here gives people the opportunity to explore different departments and specialize in what they find most interesting.   Meet Joe Kenny, a research associate that heads up our Translational Medicine team. After gaining experience in lab, he expressed interest in also understanding business development. The combination of skills led him to pursue an MBA, in which he was recently accepted to Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC.

Ashley Trama, Ph.D., MBA, recently presented at the #EESymposium. The subject of Dr. Trama’s talk was Locus’ Pseudomonas aeruginosa-specific CRISPR-Cas3 bacteriophage cocktail developed to treat respiratory and bloodstream infections. Leveraging the #LOCUSAI platform, we optimize cocktail host range by screening thousands of phage and bacterial combinations. The LBP-PA01 cocktail outperformed the standard-of-care antibiotic tobramycin in both a mouse acute lower respiratory tract infection model and a disseminating lung infection model. This asset was developed using two strain isolate panels from patient samples, targeting respiratory and bloodstream infections. It covers 95% of P. aeruginosa respiratory isolates—including 100% of multidrug-resistant strains—and 98% of bloodstream infection isolates. #precisionmedicine

At Locus Biosciences, we build off-the-shelf precision medicines that are applicable to all patients with an infection caused by a particular bacterium. LBP-EC01 is our lead program that is designed to target all E. coli UTIs.   To build a product that is relevant to all E. coli UTIs, the starting material makes all the difference. We develop our cocktails by testing against bacterial isolates sourced from all over the world. Since these strains are taken from diverse patient populations, it enables us to make a product relevant to all E. coli UTIs.   A precision approach is scalable, and it is what allows us to reach broad demographics and people everywhere. A precision approach still allows us to take care of you by delivering a product specific to your disease indication. We don’t build custom, we build personal.

Extensive studies by the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre in Szeged, Hungary, have demonstrated that even newly developed antibiotics can quickly provoke resistance in pathogens due to the rapid adaptation of pre-existing mutations in bacterial populations. This resistance likely arises from conserved mechanisms shared with older antibiotics, underscoring the need for new approaches to antibiotic development.   At Locus, we adapt at the speed of biology. Our platform is built to combat resistance by engineering naturally occurring bacterial viruses and building cocktails that complement each other to achieve optimal killing potential. Should resistance occur, our products are adaptable, which means we don't need to go all the way back to the starting line. Instead of developing drugs kept safeguarded for fear of resistance or therapies tailored to an individual, we are creating scalable, precision therapies designed to treat everyone.   #precisionmedicine #LOCUSAI #adapt 

Nick Conley, Ph.D., recently presented at the 21st BayHelix Annual Conference. Thank you to BayHelix for hosting this event! Our CTO shared insights into the LOCUS #AI platform and discussed new, groundbreaking therapies in the field as a panelist alongside other industry leaders.

We are thrilled to work with the strong Life Sciences Group at BridgeBank. Together, we will tackle #AMR and change the face of precision medicine.