Pioneering biotech company Myostellar, led by Professor Peter Currie and Associate Professor Mikaël Martino, has received an additional $500,000 funding to support the development of much-needed new therapies for the treatment of debilitating muscular dystrophies
Prof Currie is an Australian EMBL Partnership laboratory head and A/Prof Martino is an EMBL Australia group leader, both based at the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University.
Myostellar is a discovery-stage biotechnology spin-out from Monash University that develops novel therapeutics for skeletal muscle regeneration in patients with untreatable muscle disorders, with the lead indication in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).
This top-up funding from Brandon BioCatalyst’s CUREator incubator is in addition to the half a million dollars of CUREator funding received in 2022 (plus additional support from Monash University) to translate the duo’s groundbreaking scientific findings from the lab towards the clinic.
“This top-up funding is incredibly important to advancing our therapeutic for stem-cell regeneration, bringing us closer to delivering a treatment for muscular dystrophy conditions,” said Professor Currie.
The company stems from an exciting discovery made by Prof Currie, A/Prof Martino and colleagues, which was published in the esteemed journal, Nature, in 2021.