In doing so, I often come across really cool companies doing really cool stuff that you might have missed if you were just scanning the headlines for news related to one particular indication or another. So here’s a shout-out to a few of the coolest little companies I’ve stumbled on recently:

ŸKingdoms Cross Station: NovaDigm Therapeutics Inc. just popped on the radar at ICAAC with the first vaccine shown to provide protection against pathogens from two kingdoms: fungi and bacteria. The NDV-3 vaccine is in Phase I development to prevent diseases caused by Candida and Staphylococcus aureus.

ŸProgrammable Immunity: Altermune Technologies LLC just raised $7 million in seed funding to support its work on programmable immunity. Founded by Nobel laureate and polymerase chain reaction inventor Kary Mullis, the firm is pursuing the theory that the immune system’s own antibodies – ubiquitous antibodies that typically are not charged with fighting infection – can be recruited and directed against a desired pathogen.

ŸCancer Prevention: As its name indicates, Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals Inc. is trying to stop benign tumors from becoming malignant. Jumping off of work done in academia and at other firms, CPP is already poised for pivotal trials.

ŸWhere No Mab’s Gone Before: Permeon Biologics Inc. is using a class of natural proteins, dubbed intraphilins, to deliver biological molecules inside of cells. The approach could open up thousands of targets previously inaccessible to biologics.

Know of a biotech doing something super-cool? Tell us about it at newsdesk@bioworld.com