Micronoma Secures $3M in Seed Funding

The company plans to use the capital to advance cancer detection technology with the development of microbiome research, begin development work, and create their CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) lab.

FREMONT, CA: Micronoma, a San Diego, CA-based early cancer-detection biotech that seeks to develop and commercializes minimally invasive microbiome-based method, secured a $3m seed financing round.The funding round was led by SymBiosis.

The company plans to use the capital to advance cancer detection technology with the development of microbiome research, begin development work, and create their CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) lab.

Incorporated in June 2019 by Sandrine Miller-Montgomery, CEO, Dr. Rob Knight, and Greg Poore, Micronoma has licensed the original IP on microbial-based cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, created by Poore and Knight, from UC San Diego. The technology has revealed that distinct cancer types can be diagnosed sensitively and specifically utilizing microbial nucleic acids in human blood and tissues.

While Micronoma’s method can query over one cancer type in a single small blood sample, the company intends to focus on the early detection of lung cancer.

“Micronoma is the only company of its kind that uses the individual’s microbiome data to detect lung cancer in its early stages, so this first seed funding is a major milestone for our company,” stated Sandrine Miller-Montgomery, CEO of Micronoma. “Between the technical expertise and business acumen of our founding teams and the strong initial financial support of our investors, we are now ready to expeditiously develop and commercialize our first assay, with an overall aim to decrease the number of preventable deaths from disease.”

The funding will also empower Micronoma to start development work and the creation of their CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) lab. The goal is to give this new diagnostic to clinicians within the next two years.

”Advances in understanding the microbiome in recent years have led us to better understand its importance in the environment and human health in general. We are now applying this knowledge to cancer diagnostics in order to make a dent in the four-million lives lost a year to preventable cancer death,” stated Knight. “By offering a novel set of biomarkers from the microbiome found in a simple blood draw, we have a potential new option for early detection. With early detection comes the prospect for early treatment with a better outcome for the patient and all involved.”