Mammoth Biosciences Secures Contract from National Institutes of Health to Scale Its High-Throughput CRISPR SARS-CoV-2 Diagnostic Platform to Address Testing Capacity Shortages

Mammoth Biosciences, Inc. today announced the company has received a contract from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of its $1.5 billion Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program, making it the first CRISPR based initiative to be funded by the program. The award will help scale Mammoth Biosciences’ CRISPR-based DETECTR™ test onto high-throughput automated platforms in commercial labs for COVID-19 diagnostics at an accelerated rate, increasing access to accurate tests with faster turnaround across the country. In a move to double down on its diagnostics efforts, Mammoth Biosciences has also strategically hired three new additions to its leadership team, including Rachel Herder as Vice President of Intellectual Property (IP), Jesus Ching as Vice President of Research and Development, and Tim Patno as Vice President of Product Development. 

With a $1.5 billion investment from federal stimulus funding, the RADx initiative infuses funding into early innovative technologies to speed development of rapid and widely accessible COVID-19 testing. The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Tech (RADx Tech) program specifically aims to support the development and commercialization of innovative technologies to significantly increase the U.S. testing capacity for SARS-CoV-2. 

“CRISPR has the potential to help curb the COVID-19 pandemic and relieve the testing shortage,” explained Trevor Martin, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Mammoth Biosciences. “We are honored to receive this support for our CRISPR-based platform to bring high-throughput, accurate testing to more people, at a time when it’s needed most.”

“This is an exciting milestone,” said Bruce Tromberg, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and leader of RADx Tech, one of four components of the NIH RADx initiative. “It will help increase U.S. testing capacity exponentially. Game-changing technologies emerging from our RADx pipeline will inform public health measures to stop the spread of the virus and leave us better equipped to address future pathogens and other diseases.”

The Mammoth Biosciences SARS-CoV-2 DETECTRTM assay uses CRISPR technology, which provides a simpler workflow and significantly faster turnaround time compared to conventional PCR methods. With the support of the RADx program, Mammoth Biosciences will scale the manufacturing of its proprietary DETECTRTM platform to provide a high-throughput, sample-to-answer turnkey solution for commercial laboratories to enable a multi-fold increase in testing capacity. Recently, the University of California, San Francisco received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) approval from the FDA to use Mammoth Biosciences’ CRISPR-based DETECTRTM reagent set for detecting SARS-CoV-2. 

In tandem, Mammoth Biosciences welcomes three key hires to its leadership team, supporting the company’s technical and product development. Rachel Herder, Ph.D. joins as VP of IP with previous experience at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) representing cutting edge startup life science clients on various aspects of intellectual property law, including patent prosecution and global patent strategy. VP of R&D, Jesus Ching, Ph.D. brings 30 years of experience building innovative technologies in the in vitro diagnostics space, having co-founded and sold GenturaDx to Luminex Corporation. As VP of Product Development, Tim Patno will leverage his decades of experience in product development at both large and small companies including those with molecular diagnostic products to oversee the development and manufacturing of Mammoth Biosciences’ diagnostics products.

This project is supported by the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program and has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. 75N92020C00011.

To learn more about Mammoth Biosciences’ COVID-19 initiatives visit: https://mammoth.bio/

About Mammoth Biosciences

Mammoth Biosciences is harnessing the diversity of nature to power the next-generation of CRISPR products. Through the discovery and development of novel CRISPR systems, the company is enabling the full potential of its platform to read and write the code of life. Mammoth Biosciences aims to democratize disease detection with an easy and affordable point-of-care test that allows real-time and simultaneous detection of multiple conditions.  By leveraging its internal research and development and exclusive licensing to Cas12, Cas13, and Cas14, Mammoth Biosciences can provide enhanced diagnostics and genome editing for life science research, healthcare, agriculture, biodefense and more. Based in South San Francisco, Mammoth Biosciences is co-founded by CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna and principal founders Trevor Martin, Janice Chen, and Lucas Harrington. The firm is backed by top institutional investors including Mayfield, NFX, and 8VC, Decheng Capital and leading individual investors including Brook Byers, Tim Cook, and Jeff Huber. 

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