A start-up biotech company based in the BioHub at Alderley Park has secured a £255,000 seed investment for targeted antibacterial research.

Founded in 2017, metaLinear focuses on the identification and validation of new drug targets for difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. The investment has been secured from the BioCity Group, which manages the Alderley Park Ventures (APV) fund, and Catapult Ventures, manager of the GM&C Life Sciences Fund.

Claire Brown, investment manager for BioCity, has joined the company's board.

Paul Ko Ferrigno, founder and chief executive of metaLinear, said: "Attracting investment from experienced investors such as Catapult and APV is a terrific validation of our new approach. With this investment, the appointment of former AZ executive Claire Brown to our board and our move to Alderley Park, we'll be joining a growing community of companies and PPPs working on antibiotic resistance, addressing the biggest medical challenge of our times."

Brown said: "We invested in metaLinear because we believe the next generation of antibacterial products will not come from existing pathways but from novel target identification, the holy grail of what industry and investors want. Targeting this activity at the proteome level also offers a differentiated approach.

"Paul's success as an academic and entrepreneur in addition to significant expertise and insight into this space of engineered proteins is a cornerstone of the company and key for future success."

The GM&C Life Sciences Fund, which is based in Alderley Park, is a seed and early-stage venture capital fund targeting life sciences businesses in the Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Warrington region. The fund is the result of a collaboration between Cheshire & Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Cheshire East Council and Manchester Science Partnerships.

Dr Gareth King, life science partner at Catapult Ventures, said: "We are very pleased to invest alongside Alderley Park Ventures into metaLinear.

"Infections caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria is a growing problem and a focus for governments, healthcare providers and industry. We think that metaLinear's technology has the potential to accelerate the development of new classes of antibiotics for the treatment of these serious infections."

Read more at insidermedia.com