Venture:
Synvect
Founders:
Pooja Y. Patel ’18PH ’16BC, Nikolay Kandul, and Omar Akbari
Industry:
Biotechnology
Venture Type:
For-profit
What is the social or environmental issue being addressed?
Globally, four billion people are at risk of mosquito-borne disease with a total of 700 million cases resulting in over one million deaths per year and tens of billions of dollars in economic burden and loss of productivity. The diseases that contribute the most to these grave statistics include dengue and malaria. Dengue and malaria cases disproportionally make up a large portion of total global cases, resulting in billions of dollars in economic burden, lowered quality of life, and death.
Innovation:
Synvect provides bioengineered mosquito control solutions that leverage CRISPR and Sterile Insect Technique to dwindle dangerous mosquito populations. The core product is next-generation Sterile Insect Technique (ngSIT), an easily deployable box containing sterilized male mosquito eggs. These eggs can be activated at any time with the addition of water and fish food. Synvect’s solutions ensure safe, economic, and effective mosquito suppression, offering superior cost-efficiency compared to competitors and offsets hundreds of millions of dollars annually by reducing the economic burden of mosquito-borne diseases.
Read More:
- Pest Control Gets the CRISPR Treatment
Nature Biotechnology
October 23, 2024 - Synvect, Inc.
Gates Foundation
August 23, 2023