Monday, August 27, 2007

Tufts tech spun into new life sciences company

By Ryan McBride

A group of genetics bigwigs and top venture capitalists are quietly putting together the pieces of a new Cambridge startup. The collaborators include Flagship Ventures, a Tufts University professor, and an executive whose earlier firm was bought for more than $100 million.

Quanterix Corp., the newly hatched company, is on the hunt for scientists after recently closing a major round of initial financing. Top players involved in the startup have declined interviews, keeping details of their life sciences venture close to their vests.

Still, the company describes itself online as a developer of systems to analyze molecules and cells to find new drugs and make tests for diseases.

The firm has also posted job openings in which it has said has "closed a significant round of funding" and is "looking to rapidly build a team of world-class scientists."

Under its original name, Digital Genomics Inc., the company reported to the government last month it closed $4.1 million of a $20 million Series A round. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing listed its executives, directors and stockholders.

Among the investors are Cambridge's Flagship, Bain Capital Ventures of Boston and Arch Venture Partners of Chicago.

Nicholas Naclerio is named in the filing as an executive. He was the CEO of a San Francisco-based genomics firm, ParAllele BioScience Inc., that was acquired in 2005 by Santa Clara, Calif.-based microarray specialist Affymetrix Inc. for about $130 million, according to the buyer.

Quanterix's technology was developed by David Walt, a chemistry professor at Tufts, who is a director of the company, said Nina Green, director of the university's technology transfer office. She also said Tufts was granted stock in the company as part of the agreement to license the technology to the firm.

"We're definitely excited about (Quanterix)," said Green. "It has the potential to do large-scale sensing for toxins or drug discovery."