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Nanograb

AI-generated binders for targeted drug delivery

Nanograb is a computational drug discovery company that uses AI to generate the best combination of binders to treat different diseases. Our product allows drugs to be targeted to very specific areas of the body.

Nanograb
Founded:2023
Team Size:3
Location:San Francisco
Group Partner:Surbhi Sarna

Active Founders

Debesh Mandal

Co-founder and CEO of Nanograb. PhD in Computational Biophysics from Imperial College London. Experienced in molecular simulations and building software for scientists. First software hire at Fabricnano

Debesh Mandal
Debesh Mandal
Nanograb

Christopher Lau

Co-founder of Nanograb. M.Eng Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering at Imperial College London. Biomedical engineering experience developing biosensors using aptamers, and a drug delivery device for hypertension management.

Christopher Lau
Christopher Lau
Nanograb

Shanil Panara

Cofounder and in silico lead at Nanograb; Imperial College PhD (dropout); Fascinated by all things compute and physics... all in the name of figuring out real life things! Otherwise, I love singing and music in general. Fun fact: I was in an a cappella group for 5 years :)

Shanil Panara
Shanil Panara
Nanograb

Company Launches

💊 70% of drugs fail in clinical trials because of poor targeting

These drugs need lower dosages due to their side effects. Targeting would minimise these side effects and mean that a smaller, more effective dose could be given to a patient. But there are no existing platforms for creating drugs that will target exactly where they need to be in the body.

For example in cancer, when scientists try to create targeted drugs, they use molecules like antibodies that attach to the cancerous cell at a single site on a single receptor. Since these cancerous cells have the same receptors as healthy cells, both types are killed by toxic payloads!

🎯 Our product allows drugs to be targeted to very specific areas of the body

We generate the best combination of binders using AI and a multivalent physics engine. We will do what no other technology is able to do:

  • Actively minimise binding to the wrong targets
  • Target new parts of the body that have been previously inaccessible

Nanograb’s vision is to transform the therapeutic landscape across the entire healthcare spectrum. Nanograb will be creating new therapies on-demand with next-generation targeting whether it’s infinitely mutating cancers, incurable neurodegenerative diseases or Disease X

Our scalable platform has proof of concept data in vitro and in vivo and our goal is to scale these methods to dozens of different applications.

🧠 Our founding team are experts in the field

  • Debesh Mandal (CEO) completed PhD in computational biophysics and was the first software hire at FabricNano.
  • Shanil Panara (In Silico Lead) dropped out of PhD to be our in silico lead, pioneering the deployment of our computational pipeline.
  • Christopher Lau (Product Lead) has experience delivering projects in energy, finance and biotechnology and brings a wealth of learnings from many industries.
  • Dr. Stefano Angioletti-Uberti (CSO) is the world leader in our theory having published the foundational papers on multivalency.
  • Professor Molly Stevens (Advisor) won the Novo Nordisk Prize 2023 and her research group are recognised as pioneers in the biotechnology space.

📢 Get in touch here if you can help:

  • We are building partnerships with biopharma companies and would love any introductions to principal scientists or business leaders who want to work with us.
  • If you are a doctor or know any doctors who would enjoy sitting on our scientific advisory board, we want to talk about these areas:
    • Cancer
    • Degenerative Diseases (e.g. for internal organs)
    • Infectious Diseases
    • Neurological Conditions