Sanger spin-out secures spot on game-changing accelerator programme
Dr Matthew Coelho and the BASE Rx team have secured a place on the Accelerate@Babraham pre-seed support programme, led by the Babraham Research Campus.
Announced today (26 May), the 2026 Accelerate@Babraham cohort are offered an unrivalled package of support thoughtfully designed to enable them to discover, innovate, grow and thrive – whilst also benefiting from being part of the wider Babraham Research Campus’ ecosystem of over 60 companies, 2,000 employees and 300 academic researchers.1,2,3,4
BASE Rx is a cancer drug discovery company founded on technology developed at the Sanger Institute by researchers Dr Mathew Garnett and Dr Matthew Coelho.5 The company uses advanced genome-editing techniques, such as CRISPR,6 to uncover vulnerable regions within cancer proteins that can be targeted with new therapies. By engineering large numbers of mutations into cancer cell lines and analysing them through genome sequencing, researchers can identify how cancers evolve resistance to treatment and pinpoint promising targets for longer-lasting cancer drugs.
An advantage of BASE Rx is its ability to generate results far quicker than traditional approaches that rely heavily on lengthy clinical studies and patient biopsy analysis, which can take many years to deliver meaningful insights. With BASE Rx, key results can be identified within months, helping to accelerate drug discovery and improve treatment options for cancers lacking long-lasting and effective therapies.
“BASE Rx was created to turn powerful research using gene-editing and DNA sequencing technologies into a platform for cancer drug discovery. We ultimately aim to help identify therapies that are less likely to fail due to drug resistance. I’m looking forward to the Accelerate@Babraham programme bringing together expertise, support and connections that will help us move the platform forward and translate this science into real-world impact for patients.”
Dr Matthew Coelho, co-founder of BASE Rx and Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
“This is a strong example of how innovative science developed at the Sanger Institute can successfully spin out into a company with the potential to improve lives of cancer patients. BASE Rx is building on advanced genomic technologies to transform how new cancer medicines are discovered and the Accelerate@Babraham programme will support the platform’s next stage of growth.”
Dr Emmanuelle Astoul, Head of Translation at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
“The Accelerate@Babraham programme is designed to do exactly what its name suggests – accelerate the journey of early-stage founders. Through the dedication and expertise of everyone involved, we help companies become lab-ready, investor-ready and pitch-ready, equipping them with the foundations they need to grow and succeed.”
Dr Jenny Hirst, Accelerate@Babraham Programme Manager
More information
Notes to editors:
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- The programme starts with an intensive eight-week taught programme, consisting of bespoke weekly seminars, interactive workshops and 1-2-1 mentoring to help hone ideas, determine commercial propositions and develop each company’s structure to enable the delivery of compelling investor pitches time after time. Thereafter, the cohort transitions into the lab with access to the Babraham Research Campus’ LiveLabs communal lab spaces.
- Additional benefits include one year’s membership to the BioIndustry Association UK and One Nucleus; affiliated company status of the Milner Therapeutics Institute and membership of nextGen Org; plus, pitching opportunities at BioBabraham and Cambridge Wide Open Week.
- Accelerate@Babraham is supported by a committed network of strategic partners, including AstraZeneca, Chiesi, Eisai, Kidney Research UK and Novo Nordisk.
- Other companies who have gained a spot on the 2026 programme, include:
- Elarna Bio: Developing long-acting RNA therapies to deliver stable, long-term metabolic control for both rare diseases and widespread conditions.
- EVolution Therapeutics: A biotech spin-out using mRNA therapeutics to improve wound healing and revolutionise the treatment of inflammatory diseases.
- Ribogenyx (Ribo X): Restoring protein accuracy in ageing cells to treat the root causes of multiple age-related diseases.
- Semper-B Therapeutics: Developing a next-generation cell-engineering platform designed to turn a patient’s own cells into living antibody factories.
- Switch Biologics: Making cancer treatments far more precise and less toxic by activating drugs only at tumour sites thanks to logic-gated enzyme therapies.
- For more information about Dr Matthew Coelho’s work and BASE Rx, please visit our blog: https://sangerinstitute.blog/2026/05/26/from-bases-to-breakthroughs-editing-cancers-weak-spots-with-crispr/
- For more information about CRISPR genome editing, please visit: https://www.yourgenome.org/theme/what-is-crispr-cas9/
