Sortera Bio

Sortera Bio Ltd is a biotechnology firm that spun out of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in early 2024. The company was established in 2023 by Dr. Ben Porebski and Dr. Philipp Holliger, both recognized experts in protein engineering and synthetic biology. Dr. Porebski, who previously served as an Investigator Scientist at MRC LMB, now leads Sortera Bio as its CEO and CTO. Dr. Holliger, a Programme Leader at MRC LMB, contributes his expertise as a board member. The foundational technology, known as Deep Screening, was developed and validated over seven years at the MRC LMB, partly through the LMB-AstraZeneca Blue Sky Collaboration.

The company's core business revolves around its proprietary Deep Screening platform, which addresses data scarcity for training AI models in biologics discovery. This technology facilitates the rapid identification of therapeutic candidates by collecting vast amounts of sequence and functional data simultaneously. In a single experiment, the platform can analyze hundreds of millions to as many as three billion biologics, identifying candidates with drug-like properties in days rather than months. These extensive datasets are then used to train generative AI models that can predict new, high-affinity biologic sequences for potentially superior therapeutics. Sortera Bio's business model is centered on forming strategic partnerships and collaborations with pharmaceutical companies and researchers. A key collaboration is with AstraZeneca, which leverages the Deep Screening platform to accelerate the discovery of novel biologics. The company's revenue is generated through these partnerships, which aim to develop new medicines for challenging biological targets.

In May 2024, Sortera Bio secured £7.5 million in a pre-seed financing round. The funding was led by Cambridge Innovation Capital and included participation from strategic partners AstraZeneca and BioNTech. This capital has been directed towards establishing the Deep Screening platform and advancing technology development. The company operates in the drug discovery sector from its headquarters in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Keywords: biologics discovery, Deep Screening, protein engineering, generative AI, drug discovery platform, therapeutic candidates, sequence-function data, antibody libraries, synthetic biology, MRC LMB spinout, AstraZeneca collaboration, BioNTech investment, Cambridge Innovation Capital, high-throughput screening, AI in drug discovery, novel medicines, challenging targets, machine learning datasets, drug-like properties, Ben Porebski, Philipp Holliger