NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Stemina Biomarker Discovery said this week that it has raised $1 million in angel investments to further develop its product for assessing drug toxicity in the developing human embryo.
Angel groups DaneVest Tech Fund Advisors, Phenomenelle Angels, and Wisconsin Investment Partners all contributed to the financing.
Stemina said that it plans to raise a total of $3 million in the financing round. In addition, the company said that it was recently awarded a $150,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.
Stemina, based in Madison, Wisc., will use the funds to broaden commercialization of its devTOX screen, expand the company's scientific and business development teams, finance additional equipment purchases, and cover operating expenses.
DevTox is a human embryonic stem cell- and metabolomics-based screen for assessing the toxicity of drugs on the developing human embryo. The company uses mass spectrometry to analyze small molecules secreted by hES cells, and differentiated cells such as heart and neural cells made from hES cells, in response to drugs, injury, or disease.