Before Michael Bettess began investing in biotechnology companies, he was a scientist working to understand how cells develop and change.
After completing a PhD in stem cell biology at the University of Adelaide, Michael undertook a postdoctoral fellowship in Switzerland. He later moved into commercialisation, first investing in research-led life sciences opportunities and then managing the Life Sciences portfolio for Monash University’s Faculty of Medicine.
That path, from the laboratory to business development and investment, has shaped how he assesses early-stage biotechnology today as a Senior Investment Manager at Brandon Capital.
For Michael, promising science is only the beginning. “I look for great science, great people we can work with and a strong underlying investment case,” he says. That means identifying a meaningful meaningful clinical and commercial needs, differentiated biology, strong intellectual property and a development plan built around milestones that can reduce risk and create value.
Those qualities stood out in Mirugen, where Michael now serves as a Non-Executive Director. The company is developing a new approach to retinal disease by seeking to reprogram cells already present in the eye into new photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells lost in conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa.
Michael sees cellular reprogramming as a potential next stage in the evolution of gene therapy.
Early gene therapies focused on replacing faulty genes. More recent approaches have sought to replace specific cellular functions. Mirugen’s ambition goes further: replacing the lost cell itself.
If successful, generating new photoreceptors could provide more physiologically relevant retinal function and open a new way of treating diseases that cause progressive vision loss.
But turning that ambition into a viable biotechnology company requires more than a compelling idea. Michael’s role has been to help translate the science into a rigorous development plan that addresses the questions investors, clinicians, patients, development partners and regulators will ask.
With input from leading retinal and gene therapy experts, the team has mapped the evidence needed to validate the approach, guide clear go/no-go decisions and build a credible path towards clinical development.
Mirugen’s near-term priorities are focused on strengthening the biology: confirming that new photoreceptors arise through reprogramming, reproducing efficacy with the intended therapeutic construct, and demonstrating meaningful function and durability.
From there, the focus will increasingly shift towards safety, delivery, manufacturing and regulatory development.
For Michael, this work also reflects a broader opportunity for Australian biotechnology. Australia produces world-class medical research, but commercial thinking must begin early. By bringing scientists and investors together around a shared development and investment case, discoveries can be shaped into competitive therapeutic products with the potential to reach patients.
The major milestone for Mirugen will be demonstrating that its compelling biology can become a reproducible, clinically developable therapy and potentially create an entirely new approach to restoring sight.
