Biotech start-up, Samsara Therapeutics, is the first company to take new laboratory space in The Oxford Trust’s Wood Centre for Innovation. The Trust, a local charity encouraging the pursuit of science and enterprise, is developing life science labs at its Wood Centre for Innovation to increase capacity for the local ecosystem. The Oxford Trust is a member of Advanced Oxford and was instrumental in setting us up.
Samsara Therapeutics is an early-stage drug discovery company that is discovering new therapies for extending healthy ageing and treating ageing-related and genetic diseases – including neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, metabolic syndrome and numerous rare genetic disorders. They do this by identifying molecules that induce the cellular process of autophagy, which decreases as we age and is dysfunctional in many diseases.
Samsara was founded in 2018 and has operations in Oxford and Boston, with important collaborations in Paris and Graz, Austria. They are backed by Apollo Ventures, a company builder and investor in longevity.
“A warm welcome to Samsara who will join us at the Wood Centre for Innovation later this Spring. A biotech start-up working on breakthrough research is exactly the type of company the Trust continues to support and help on their journey to success.” Steve Burgess, CEO, The Oxford Trust.
The continuing development of the Wood Centre for Innovation is delivering new laboratory facilities to answer the significant demand from science and tech start-ups and SMEs for lab space. The Centre is located in Oxford’s Headington area, which is home to the city’s hospitals, biomedical faculty and is close to Oxford Brookes University.
Peter Hamley, chief scientific officer, Samsara Therapeutics, said: “We’re really excited to move to the Wood Centre for Innovation. It’s perfect for the needs of a growing biotech, with state-of-the art facilities in a great location and it allows us to expand the team over the coming months.”
Photo of Samsara lead compound showing increased autophagy (green dots) in human cells
