Cajal Neuroscience, a Seattle, WA-based biotechnology company, raised $96M in Series A funding.
The round was led by The Column Group and Lux Capital, with participation from Two Sigma Ventures, Evotec, Bristol Myers Squibb, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Dolby Family Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to expand its development efforts.
Led by CEO Muñoz-Sanjuán, CSO Ian Peikon, Ph.D., and COO Andrew Dervan, M.D., MBA, Cajal Neuroscience is a biotechnology company integrating human genetics, functional genomics and advanced microscopy to discover novel targets and therapeutics for neurodegeneration. The platform combines approaches and technologies, including integrative human genetics and multi-omics, highly multiplexed functional genomics and industrialized whole brain imaging. Through this approach, Cajal is systematically validating the thousands of targets implicated in diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and creating a comprehensive understanding of neurodegeneration that reveals how, where and when different mechanisms contribute to disease.
Cajal’s scientific co-founders include neuroscientists that bring together disciplines across genetics, molecular and cellular biology, and functional neuroanatomy:
- Huda Zoghbi, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Molecular and Human Genetics, Neurology and Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine; Director, Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital; Investigator, HHMI
- Anthony Zador, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
- Charles Zuker, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Neuroscience, Columbia University; Investigator, HHMI
Along with its scientific co-founders, Cajal’s Scientific Advisory Board is composed of:
- Richard Hargreaves, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Neuroscience Thematic Research Center, Bristol Myers Squibb
- David Holtzman, M.D., Professor and Chair of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
- Martin Kampmann, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of California San Francisco
- Jay Shendure, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Genome Sciences, University of Washington; HHMI