Global health charity the Gates Foundation has extended its financial backing of PhaSER Biomedical with a fresh $2.7M (£2m) grant distributed across two years. This capital injection maintains the Scottish biotechnology firm’s membership within the Global Health Discovery Collaboratory, enabling international scientific groups to utilize its proprietary rodent technology and metabolic expertise. The fresh funding arrives after a previous $2.3M allocation in 2024, during which scientists leveraged the company’s specialized 8HUM platform to study Chagas disease, schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, and malaria. Consequently, medical researchers across the globe retain access to advanced platforms engineered to combat severe infectious illnesses.
Traditional laboratory rodents tend to process pharmacological compounds significantly faster than human subjects, frequently yielding misleading experimental data. To solve this issue, the 8HUM platform incorporates humanized variants of key drug-metabolizing genes, creating pharmacological profiles that mimic clinical patient outcomes according to a study published in PNAS by University of Dundee investigators. Evaluating these advanced biological tools, founder Wolf stated, “Over the last two years we have seen how the humanised models provide human-relevant data that can rescue promising compounds, de-risk candidates and save valuable drug development time.” Chief executive Chris Wardhaugh further emphasized that “Human-relevant evidence earlier in development means better choices about which medicines to take forward.”
Formed in October 2022, the enterprise commercializes technology initially constructed by Professor Roland Wolf alongside Scottish Enterprise, Taconic, CXR Biosciences, and the University of Dundee. Beyond infectious disease research, the entity is deploying its 8HUM framework to construct HERALD, an artificial intelligence system designed to anticipate negative interactions when patients take multiple pharmaceutical treatments simultaneously. Created in partnership with the UK’s medicines regulator, the MHRA, alongside academic scholars, that safety initiative secured £859,650 in government support announced in October 2025.
To propel its next phase of growth, the organization is actively recruiting specialists across computer modeling and artificial intelligence. Expanding its leadership expertise, the firm brought Richard Bickerton onto its board of directors; he previously co-founded AI-driven drug development company Exscientia, which Recursion acquired in 2024. Meanwhile, management confirmed ongoing discussions with external investors to support further commercial scaling.
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