BRIEF—Carver Biosciences launches to advance CRISPR/Cas13-based technologies

Carver Biosciences, a Boston, USA-based biotech focused on the development of CRISPR/Cas13 antivirals, today announced the closure of a $3 million seed round of financing led by Khosla Ventures.

Carver is focused on using the bacterially derived RNA-directed RNase Cas13 to target respiratory viruses. Carver will use the seed funding to conduct initial proof of concept Cas13 experiments in cells and in models of disease at their laboratories in Boston and with CRO partners.

The company was founded in 2021 by Cameron Myhrvold, assistant professor at Princeton University.

Dr Myhrvold has worked on developing Cas13-based technologies for studying viral host RNAs since 2016, the year the protein was first discovered.

Dr Walter Strapps joined as co-founder and chief executive in February of 2022.  Dr Myhrvold will serve as chairman of Carver’s scientific advisory board.

“Cas13 opens up a whole new world of possibilities for targeting RNA, much like Cas9 did for targeting DNA,” said Dr Myhrvold, adding: “I’m particularly excited about using Cas13 to treat viral infections, as the vast majority of viruses don’t have FDA-approved therapies or vaccines.