Centre of attention

Gene pool
St. John’s startup banking on DNA project leading to
big things in biotech sector

TYLER WISH wants to turn St. John’s-based Sequence Bio into a global leader in drug discovery and medical treatments.

That’s why the company, which works with partners to analyze large sets of data from gene pools to get a greater understanding of people who are at heightened risk of contracting a disease, is planning to launch the 100k Project.

“How we discover drugs isn’t working,” says Wish, CEO and founder of Sequence Bio. “Slow and steady doesn’t cut it anymore. We aren’t curing diseases and developing better treatments at the pace of other technological advances.”

The 100k Project is named because it plans to look for 100,000 Newfoundlanders to voluntarily provide a DNA sample to the company. The company will then study the participant’s health records to see if the DNA can help discover new medical treatments. The project is being launched later this year.

It turns out that Newfoundland and Labrador is a prime location for this kind of work. It has an isolated population with families who have lived there for hundreds of years. The province also has a high incidence of rare and complex disease. For example, in 2008, Memorial University researchers found a genetic mutation affecting 24 Newfoundland families that causes sudden cardiac death.
Wish says he hopes the 100k Project will help bring cheaper and better drugs to the market and get them to patients quicker. But he also sees this work leading to the growth of biotechnology in a province where fishing, oil and mining dominate the economy. “We have the opportunity to build an incredible company right here at home and foster the growth of a new cluster of companies,” Wish says.

NOTHING VENTURED, NOTHING GAINED

It can be tough for new companies to find enough Seed capital to run their businesses. But Sequence Bio has managed to reel in several significant investors to fund its innovative work.

2016
• The St. John’s-based company announces the closing of US$3 million investment deal led by Data Collective, a venture capital firm from Silicon Valley, California. Also joining Data Collective in the financing was Killick Capital, Venture Newfoundland and Labrador and Klister Credit Corp.

2015
• Venture Newfoundland and Labrador makes its first investment ever, $300,000 worth, in Sequence Bio.
• Killick Capital invests $500,000 in the company.
• Klister Credit Corp. invests $200,000 in Sequence Bio