Biotechnology · Veterinary oncology
LEAH Labs
A Minneapolis area biotech engineering CAR-T therapy for dogs with B cell lymphoma, regulated by the USDA rather than the FDA, betting lessons from canine patients carry over to people.
A misdiagnosis and a mutt named Layla
Wesley Wierson's border collie mix, Layla, was diagnosed with cancer. The plan on the table was to remove half her jaw and follow with radiation. The diagnosis later turned out to be wrong, but the scare stuck with him. Wierson had just finished a doctorate in molecular, cellular and developmental biology at Iowa State University, and he pointed that training at the problem he had just lived through: treating cancer in dogs without destroying their quality of life.
“There exists no veterinary companies right now who are using gene editing to bring about a better life for their dogs,” Wierson told the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2020. “We really are excited about the opportunity to use our expertise in gene editing to actually be the next companion animal health care company.”
The problem: a cancer that kills millions of dogs a year
Canine B cell lymphoma is the clinical analog of human non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. LEAH Labs puts the toll at 250,000 dogs a year for this cancer alone, and 6,000,000 dogs a year dying of cancer overall in the US, per its own grant materials.
The standard of care, a multi-agent chemotherapy protocol known as CHOP, was developed for humans decades ago and repurposed for dogs. The University of Minnesota's description of a related canine CAR-T pilot trial puts CHOP at roughly five months of weekly vet visits, $7,000 to $12,000, and remission lasting 9 to 12 months in 80 to 90 percent of dogs before relapse. In humans, CAR-T therapy has produced durable, sometimes curative, remissions in blood cancers, with six FDA approvals since 2017. No CAR-T product is commercially available for dogs.
LEAH Labs' bet is that the same reprogrammed T cell approach can be engineered cheaply enough to sell to general practice veterinarians, not just specialty oncology referral centers, at a fraction of chemotherapy's cost.
Founders and the platform behind the pitch
Wierson founded LEAH Labs, incorporated in Delaware in Nov 2018 as LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories Incorporated, per SEC filings. He invented the company's core technology, a virus free gene editing platform called GeneWeld, during his PhD, licensed from Iowa State University and Mayo Clinic based on his academic work in zebrafish and human cell lines, per Medical Alley's account of the company's NSF award. Alex M. Abel, PhD, an immunologist and gene editor, is Chief Scientific Officer and is credited on the company site with building GeneWeld in T cells and designing the CAR-T cells that the company says achieved the first remissions in dogs with cancer.
Two scientific founders bring the human medicine side. Stephen C. Ekker, PhD, is a board director who, per Form C filings, signed the company's SEC disclosures alongside Wierson. Saad S. Kenderian, MB/ChB, a hematologist at Mayo Clinic, is a co-principal investigator with Wierson on the company's National Cancer Institute funded imaging study. Veterinary oncology advisors Sarah Gillings, DVM, and Craig Clifford, DVM, are both board certified in veterinary internal medicine.
The company entered Y Combinator's winter cohort in early 2019 as LEAH Laboratories, one of two Iowa based startups selected that cycle, alongside indoor farming company Nebullam, out of roughly 12,000 applicants, per Clay & Milk's coverage at the time. The YC seed came with a standard $150,000 investment and three months of mentorship ending in a March 2019 demo day.
From angel checks to federal grants
Early capital came from a mix of small checks and non-dilutive grants. LEAH Labs launched a Wefunder campaign in August 2019; by April 2020 the Star Tribune reported almost $480,000 raised through it and more than $1 million in total. Twin Cities Business later put the closed angel round at $900,000 as of March 2020, including $468,000 via Wefunder, plus roughly $394,000 in grants, including a Launch Minnesota Innovation Grant.
The company went back to Wefunder for a second round in 2021, targeting $535,000; Twin Cities Business reported $270,060 raised as of that April, with the company aiming to commercialize by late 2023 or early 2024. Federal SBIR and STTR grants followed in stages: NSF Phase I, $225,000 in 2020; NIH Phase I, $337,433 in 2022, for a non-viral platform aimed partly at autoimmune disease; and NSF Phase II, $973,924 in 2023, to scale manufacturing and fund a pilot trial in pet dogs. “This SBIR funding gives LEAH Labs the opportunity to continue building our world-class virus-free gene editing technology, while getting a lead candidate CAR-T cell therapy into pet patients who desperately need new and innovative solutions,” Wierson said when the Phase II award was announced.
In July 2024, LEAH Labs and the University of Missouri opened enrollment in an NCI funded study to track CAR-T cells inside dogs using PET imaging, a supplement grant with project number 3R37CA266344-02S1 and Wierson and Kenderian as co-principal investigators. “One of our founding mottos at LEAH Labs was to ‘help pets and their people’ with our CAR-T cell therapy platform,” Wierson said. The trial aims to enroll three dogs, testing feasibility and initial safety with veterinary oncologist Jeffrey Bryan at Missouri's Veterinary Health Center.
What is proven, and what is still claimed
| Evidence | What the record shows | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate existence | Incorporated in Delaware, Nov 7, 2018, as LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories Incorporated, doing business as LEAH Labs, per SEC EDGAR under CIK 0001782895. | Public record |
| USDA regulatory path | Company says its CAR-T platform for dogs is regulated by the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics, not the FDA. No public USDA license record was found. | Company-stated |
| Federal SBIR and STTR grants | $1,936,357 across four Phase I and Phase II awards from NSF and NIH, 2020 to 2025, per SBIR.gov's portfolio for the company. | Public record |
| NIH DOGS imaging trial | Announced July 2024 with University of Missouri, project 3R37CA266344-02S1, enrolling three dogs. From a joint Medical Alley release, not independently confirmed in NIH RePORTER during this research. | Company-stated |
| Clinical remissions claim | The company website says LEAH Labs is “the first, and only, in the world to put pets in remissions using CAR-T cell therapy in dogs with cancer.” A 2019 pitch cited an “80% positive response rate in early testing.” No peer-reviewed publication was found. | Company-stated |
| Peer-reviewed literature | No PubMed papers by LEAH Labs' named scientists reporting its own canine CAR-T results were found. A separate, unaffiliated Japanese group published canine CD20 CAR-T work in 2020 using a virus-based method. | Not found |
| USDA license timeline | 2019 investor materials targeted trials complete by Q3 2022 and a conditional USDA license by Q2 2024. No public record confirming a license by that date was found. | Target date passed |
| Active trial sites | Company lists three currently enrolling sites: Minnesota, Ohio State, and Missouri. A matching University of Minnesota canine xenogeneic CD20 CAR-T trial listing exists but does not name LEAH Labs. | Public record, unconfirmed link |
Read plainly: the science underneath LEAH Labs tracks a real and active field, and the company has real federal grant funding and named, credible collaborators at Mayo Clinic and multiple veterinary schools. What has not surfaced publicly is a peer-reviewed paper, an independent confirmation of a USDA license, or a named institutional lead investor. Those gaps do not mean the claims are false; they mean they are not yet independently verified in the sources checked here.
What to watch
- Whether a USDA conditional license appears on the public record; the company's own 2019 target of Q2 2024 has passed.
- Results, and any publication, from the NIH funded DOGS PET-imaging trial with Missouri.
- A peer-reviewed paper describing LEAH Labs' own canine CAR-T outcomes.
- Named institutional investors or a priced round, since funding to date has come from grants and two Wefunder SAFE campaigns.
In their words
“There exists no veterinary companies right now who are using gene editing to bring about a better life for their dogs.”
Wesley Wierson, founder and CEO, Minnesota Star Tribune, Apr 2020 · Independent
“Now it's time to actually start to build what we've been talking about, what we've been promising now for the last two years. So, it's exciting, thrilling and, you know, obviously a little bit scary.”
Wesley Wierson, Minnesota Star Tribune, Apr 2020 · Independent
“We're not only interested in curing cancer in dogs,” said Wierson. “Long-term as a company we want to use gene editing to be able to reprogram any cell type that could provide a therapeutic value to a pet.”
Wesley Wierson, Twin Cities Business, Apr 2021 · Independent
“This SBIR funding gives LEAH Labs the opportunity to continue building our world-class virus-free gene editing technology, while getting a lead candidate CAR-T cell therapy into pet patients who desperately need new and innovative solutions.”
Wesley Wierson, founder and CEO, Medical Alley release, Oct 2023 · Company release
“LEAH Labs' CAR-T cell therapy platform is unique in the field and has a real chance to bring a desperately needed new solution to our clients.”
Dr. Jeffrey Bryan, University of Missouri Veterinary Health Center, quoted in a Medical Alley release, Jul 2024 · Partner, company release
Related companies
Sources
- Public recordSEC EDGAR filer submissions, LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories Inc, CIK 0001782895
- Public recordForm D, LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories Inc
- Public recordSBIR.gov company portfolio, LifEngine Animal Health Laboratories Incorporated
- Public recordEvaluation of xenogeneic CAR-T cell therapy for canine CD20+ B cell lymphoma, trial listing
- IndependentLeah Labs using gene editing to develop cancer treatment in dogs
- IndependentLEAH Labs Startup Fetching Fresh Funding for Cancer Treatment for Dogs
- IndependentNebullam and LEAH Laboratories selected into Y Combinator's winter cohort
- InvestorLEAH Labs deal profile
- CompanyLEAH Labs Receives SBIR Phase II Grant
- CompanyLEAH Labs and University of Missouri Launch Trial Funded by National Cancer Institute
- CompanyLEAH Labs website, mission, science and team pages
- CompanyLEAH Labs on Wefunder, campaign page
- IndependentLEAH Labs company profile
Profile researched and written by Healthcare Discovery. Last updated September 29, 2026.
