SökerData secures a share of a £6.2m grant from Innovate UK to develop a diverse biomarker database
Innovate UK has backed the female-led health startup to expand representation in clinical trials.
UK-based digital health startup building a diverse biomarker database to address demographic gaps in genome-wide association studies and clinical trials.
Digital health startup SökerData has secured a share of a £6.2m grant from Innovate UK to build a diverse biomarker database. The company aims to address the underrepresentation of non-European genetic ancestries in clinical studies and improve outcomes for diseases such as breast cancer.
The funding will be allocated towards sourcing and curating biomarkers from existing datasets alongside designing the architecture for the new database. SökerData was founded by Dr Elsa Zekeng, with Rakia Finley serving as chief technology officer.
The project supports applications in targeted drug discovery, clinical trial design, and market access. By broadening the data used in medical research, the firm seeks to enhance the efficiency and equity of pharmaceutical development.
From the founder
"SökerData’s mission is to use data to develop insights that increase efficiency, safety and equity in drug discovery and regulatory reporting. We have high hopes that SökerData will play a pivotal role in changing the way that we research, develop and administer treatments for disease including cancer.."
Elsa Zekeng
Founder at SökerData
Use of funds
- 01Fund research and development
- 02Build out infrastructure
