gene-regulation
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Talus Bio
Talus Bio is a Seattle drug-discovery company going after transcription factors and other regulatory proteins long written off as 'undruggable.' Its MARMOT platform measures the human regulome directly in living cells using functional proteomics and high-throughput mass spectrometry, then feeds tens of millions of compound-target interactions into a lab-in-the-loop AI system to design small molecules that switch disease-driving genes on or off. Founded in 2020 by Alex Federation and Lindsay Pino, the company runs preclinical programs in chordoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and prostate cancer.
Alex Federation
Alex Federation is the co-founder and CEO of Talus Bio, a Seattle biotech building drugs for transcription factors, the gene-control proteins long written off as 'undruggable.' A Harvard-trained chemical biologist who studied under Jay Bradner, he invented the MARMOT platform to measure and modulate the regulome inside living cells, pairing functional proteomics with AI models trained on tens of millions of compound-target interactions. He teamed with proteomics scientist Lindsay Pino in 2020, went through Y Combinator, and has raised roughly $24.7M to chase first-in-class medicines for targets like Brachyury, AR-V7, and STAT3.
Tune Therapeutics
Tune Therapeutics is a genetic-medicine company building tools to turn genes up or down without cutting DNA. Its TEMPO epigenetic-editing platform tunes gene expression the way a sound engineer rides a fader - reversible, programmable, and precise. Spun out of Duke's Gersbach Lab, Tune raised over $175M in Series B financing in January 2025 and is running first-in-human trials of TUNE-401, an epigenetic silencer for chronic hepatitis B, with the larger ambition of editing the genome's software to extend human healthspan.
Moonwalk Biosciences
Moonwalk Biosciences is a San Francisco Bay Area biotech building precision epigenetic medicines. Co-founded by former Illumina CTO Alex Aravanis and CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang, the company pairs whole-genome, single-cell epigenome mapping with AI-guided 'read-and-write' epigenetic editing tools that reprogram cells to a healthy state without cutting or altering the underlying DNA. Launched out of stealth in January 2024 with $57 million in seed and Series A funding, Moonwalk aims to file its first IND within a few years.