A new company formed off technology developed at Jackson Laboratory will move into the UConn incubator space in Farmington, the first spinoff company at the university as part of the Bioscience Connecticut initiative.
MutliClonal Therapeutics (MCT) co-founder Frank McKeon already has received a $1.1 million grant from the State Bond Commission to research and develop therapies for diseases and conditions – like Crohn’s Disease – using stem cells. The company is led by Jackson Lab professors McKeon and Wa Xian.
When the state launched the $1 billion Bioscience Connecticut initiative in 2011 and brought Jackson Labs down from Maine to the UConn Health Center campus in Farmington, the plans included having the laboratory spinoff startup companies using its research and leveraging UConn’s Technology Incubation Program.
MCT is the first of what will be many startups from Jackson Lab to come to UConn, said Jeff Seemann, UConn’s vice president for research. The proximity of the incubator space in Farmington to the Jackson facility and the UConn health center will help businesses grow, he said.
The company is forming a platform to clone patient-specific stem cells for treatment. Its focus now is on diseases of the airways and gastrointestinal tract, regenerative strategies for organ-specific diseases, and therapies directed at cancer stem cells.
