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We engineer precision antimicrobials at Xenetics.

Pioneering the treatment of bacterial disease through synthetic antimicrobial systems to engineer the next precision therapeutics.

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Today's Status Quo

By far, one of the greatest public health issues is antimicrobial resistance. Although the future is hard to predict, it is estimated that antibiotic-resistant infections could cause 10 million deaths per year, globally, by 2050.

Resistance = Spreads Globally.

New resistance mechanisms are emerging at an alarming rate due to our reliance on antibiotics. Global supply chains means antibiotic resistance spreads quickly across the globe too.

New Antibiotics = None.

Bacteria evolve quickly. Yet, our most basic antibiotics haven't changed for over 50 years. Resistance could also spread without detection, through a mechanism called transient silencing.

Post-Antibiotic Era = 1900s, Again.

Without urgent action, we're headed towards a post-antibiotic era where the existence of superbugs means even common infections and minor injuries can once again kill.

Xenetics' Solution and Pipeline

We're putting the engineering back in bioengineering by rethinking our approach to discovery and testing therapeutics for antimicrobial resistance. Xenetics uses logical and modular forms of cellular control through engineered living systems.

Biofoundry of Bacteriophages: Accessible for Everyone

Xenetics' therapeutic development pipeline beings with high-throughput phage discovery, to find phages that can precisely infect a bacterial pathogen of choice.

  • We collect natural phages from their environment and perform genomic analysis through a fully automated robotic platform that determines key characteristics of desired properties.
  • Several phages may be used to create a phage cocktail, which can more effectively target a bacterial strain. We screen phage cocktails against target strains through a high throughput system, as early on as possible, to fast track the engineering process (a later step) for a engineered antimicrobial system.
  • We also open source a part of our biofoundry to help accelerate the field's development and aid other scientists.

Automated Pipeline for Bacterial Target Analysis

Xenetics leverages next generation sequencing to rapidly characterize our growing biofoundry of bacterial strains and bacteriophages in order to compare their genetic information. This allows us to more efficiently and effectively engineer the precision antimicrobial system.

  • After performing the raw read, we map the genomic data of the bacteria against a reference genome database to perform comparative genomics + phlogenetic analysis and a reference genotype database to perform clinical genotyping (ie, virulence, antimicrobial resistance).
  • We then do a comparative analysis of the bacterial strain and the bacteriophage to determine their compatibility.
  • We store the data in our database (Xenetics' biofoundry), which we open source select parts to aid other scientists working on this problem.

ML Powered Bioinformatics Pipeline to Engineer Precision Antimicrobial System

Xenetics' bioinformatics pipeline selects for the best phage(s) and finds a specific target in the bacterial genome to target through a CRISPR-Cas system or genetically engineered RNA that will be delivered to the target bacteria through the phage.

  • The phage allows to target precision and specificity, ensuring only the target bacteria is destroyed and healthy bacteria are not affected.
  • The CRISPR-Cas system can destroy the bacteria's DNA beyond repair or modify the DNA so that it can no longer function.
  • The RNA can silence ('turn off') the gene that leads to antibiotic resistance or inhibit the expression of important biomolecules that are essential for a bacteria's survival.

Get early access to Xenetics' Biofoundry.

Send us a message on our contact page to join a community of world class innovators in open source science to tackle antimicrobial resistance.