Portland biotech startup receives millions from National Science Foundation
A local biotech startup is getting a big boost. Caravel Bio recently announced it’s getting $2.2 million of a $7.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
The startup is located in south Portland, and the work is all about the proteins.
“We’re a protein engineering and synthetic biology company. Largely what that means is that we make proteins to be better at their jobs,” said Trevor Nicks, who is the founder and CEO.
“It’s like engineering the printer that prints paper,” he explained. “You know, 50 years ago, we only had black and white to print with. Now, we have this new inkjet printer made out of proteins that enables us to print in all different colors. That enables us to make proteins that are more versatile and better at their jobs. It’s effectively just giving them new chemistries that enables them to interact with the body more specifically.”
Nicks said Caravel has primarily focused on creating enzymes that can do their jobs in a cost-effective way inside chemical reactor tanks. Currently, the company is also working on capturing carbon.
But thanks to the new grant, they’re moving into the therapeutic sector.
“We specifically are creating new technologies to engineer those proteins that make proteins, so we can create new therapeutics and new drugs to treat disease,” Nicks said.
He added the goal is to achieve potency and precision.
“Potency is how good are they at their jobs, at getting rid of cancer or other diseases in the body,” Nicks explained. “Precision is how precise are they at just activating and acting on the cells we want them to and not damaging other tissues or causing side effects.”
His work is also personal. In 2020, Nicks said his mother was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer:
“She had to go to the hospital and receive these drugs which compromised her immune system, and that is the precision we’re talking about. Can we create new drugs that don’t compromise the immune system?”
He said additionally, his mother had to be treated for six months. He wonders if he could help create a drug that can act faster.
Nicks said the grant money will also go toward animal health — for example, developing low-cost vaccines for cattle.
While Caravel Bio is already working on carbon capturing, the money will help the company engineer new enzymes in that arena as well.
“It sounds cliché, but it’s wonderful to get to work on things where you think that they could one day change people’s lives for the better. So, it’s very energizing and it’s helpful when waking up in the morning to get out of bed,” said Nicks.
Nicks said the full $7.8 million is going toward a three-year collaboration between Caravel Bio, Oregon State University, Avery Bio, Caltech, Rutgers University and other partners.
He said right now, Caravel is made up of a team of just five people. Nicks said it could be three to five years before they’ll see their products on the market.
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