Biomodal

Originally founded as Cambridge Epigenetix in 2012 by Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian and Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, the company rebranded to Biomodal in April 2023. The company is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and develops life sciences technology for researchers and clinical developers. The founders' journey began with research into epigenetic modifications, specifically 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, which led to a focus on creating new research tools.

Biomodal provides solutions that integrate into existing laboratory infrastructure to analyze both genetic and epigenetic data from a single, low-volume DNA sample in one workflow. The company's core technology, the duet multiomics solution, enables the sequencing of the '6-base genome', which includes the four standard DNA bases (A, C, G, T) plus two modified cytosines (5mC and 5hmC). This offers a more comprehensive view of the genome and its regulation, which is valuable for life scientists and clinical developers in fields like cancer research, neurodegenerative disease, aging, and liquid biopsies. The technology is hardware-agnostic, meaning it is compatible with existing sequencing machines, and includes a software pipeline for analysis.

The company's business model centers on selling these technology kits and software to research institutions and clinical development organizations. Biomodal has raised a total of approximately $164 million through multiple funding rounds, including a Series D round of $88 million in November 2021 led by Temasek. Other significant investors include GV (formerly Google Ventures), Sequoia Capital, and New Science Ventures.

Keywords: 6-base genome, genetic sequencing, epigenetic sequencing, multiomics solution, DNA methylation, single-base resolution, Cambridge Epigenetix, duet multiomics, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine, 5-methylcytosine, liquid biopsy, cancer research, neurodegenerative disease, cfDNA, omics, sequencing technology, research tools, clinical developers, biomarker discovery, single sample analysis, genomics, epigenomics, bioinformatics software