EP #453 - Samir Ounzain: Unlocking the Power of the Dark Genome

Timestamps:

5:22 - From the UK to Switzerland

11:29 - The dark genome and chronic diseases

17:35 - HTX001 and heart failure

26:44 - Sticking to grants at first

34:32 - Managing two separate teams

This episode was sponsored by smzh, your independent go-to partner in all matters relating to finance.

About Samir Ounzain:

Samir Ounzain is the co-founder and CEO of HAYA Therapeutics, a precision medicines company targeting the regulatory genome for cardiovascular diseases, fibrosis and cancer. He holds a PhD from the University of Leicester and was previously a researcher at Imperial College London, University College London and CHUV Lausanne University Hospital before starting HAYA in 2019, together with his co-founder Daniel Blessing.

Early on in his academic career Samir studied the so-called “dark genome” (also known as the “regulatory genome”), which at the time of discovery (2001) was considered “junk DNA”, i.e. the 98% of our DNA that apparently did not make or in any way affect our genes. More recent scientific research has discovered that this regulatory genome is key to understanding how our genes interact with our environment, and can therefore be useful in targeting environment-caused diseases like heart failure and cancer.

HAYA’s lead therapeutic candidate is HTX-001, an antisense oligonucleotide targeting Wisper, which is a tissue and cell-specific cardiac lncRNA known to play a role in heart failure. The company is also developing a pipeline of lncRNA-targeting candidates for the cell-specific treatment of diseases in other tissues, including the lungs and the microenvironment of solid tumor cancers. The added benefit of their drugs is that by targeting the “dark” 98%, instead of the 2%, they result in zero side effects: conventional drugs help patients treat their diseases but they also produce secondary unwanted effects because the proteins that they are targeting (in our 2%) are also responsible for other functions — this same issue does not exist when it comes to drugs which interact with the dark genome.

HAYA Therapeutics is headquartered at the life sciences park Biopôle, in Lausanne, with additional laboratory facilities at JLABS, San Diego. They have raised a total of $25M in funding backed by a strong consortium of investors, including Broadview Ventures, Apollo Health Ventures, 4SeeVentures, BioInnovator, Bernina Bioinvest, Humboldt and Schroder Adveq.

This cover portrait was edited by www.smartportrait.io

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