Visterra, a Cambridge, MA-based developer of therapies and diagnostics for flu and other viruses, has raised a $6 million round of venture funding from Flagship Ventures, Lux Capital, and Polaris Venture Partners. The news was reported earlier by PE Hub and Mass High Tech. Visterra, formerly called Parasol Therapeutics, was spun out of the MIT lab of bioengineer Ram Sasisekharan and incubated at Polaris, as Ryan reported in April 2009. The company previously raised $3.25 million in seed funding. The new money is being used in part to help Visterra expand to Singapore, where it plans to extend its R&D capabilities.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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