aTyr Pharma Receives Industry Innovation Awards from TiE and San Diego Venture Group

SAN DIEGO, June 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- aTyr Pharma, an innovative protein therapeutics business, announced today that aTyr has received two industry awards from TiE and San Diego Venture Group (SDVG) for innovation in life sciences.  The awards recognize the advancements aTyr has made in discovering and developing first-in-class opportunities based on Physiocrine biology. Physiocrines represent new protein therapeutic horizons for auto-immune patients.  

The two awards from TiE and SDVG were competitive on a global and a local level, respectively, and sought to identify and recognize the companies that best represented innovation in a range of industries. TiE, a not-for-profit global network of entrepreneurs and professionals, screened more than 2,100 companies from 37 countries to select 50 of the best companies in five areas: mobile, clean tech, software, social networking and life sciences. aTyr won the award in life sciences for the company's innovation, ingenuity, strong management team and quality of ideas. aTyr was also recently recognized as a "Cool Company" by SDVG which selected, from 150 nominees, 30 companies that represented innovation across all industry sectors in San Diego. 

To learn more about aTyr Pharma, Dr. John Mendlein, aTyr's executive chairman and CEO, will be speaking on a panel called, "Beyond Antibodies: Developing Next Generation Biologics" at the upcoming BIO International Convention in Boston, MA.  The panel will take place June 21 from 8:30 am to 9:45 am EDT in Room 253B. 

About Physiocrines
Physiocrines are produced from ancient genes, aminoacyl tRNA synthetases, an intercellular gene family involved in protein synthesis. Overlooked by genomic discovery efforts, Physiocrines are naturally occurring proteins that modulate extracellular signaling pathways in a variety of physiological processes. These endogenous human proteins act through a variety of receptor classes via mechanisms distinct from current pharmaceuticals and have potential applications in a number of therapeutic areas. aTyr is focused on using Physiocrines to generate effective physiologic responses in immune system disorders, including inflammation and disordered immunity.

About aTyr Pharma
aTyr Pharma develops biologic therapeutics based on Physiocrine biology. aTyr has established a dominant intellectual property estate surrounding Physiocrine-based compositions and potential therapeutic applications. aTyr's key programs are focused on immunomodulation disorders in the areas of inflammation and immunity and are in preclinical development. The privately held biotech was founded by The Scripps Research Institute Professor Paul Schimmel, a leading aminoacyl tRNA synthetase scientist, and is backed by top life sciences investors Alta Partners, Cardinal Partners, Domain Associates and Polaris Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.atyrpharma.com.

SOURCE aTyr Pharma