But Q4 was the third sequential quarter with a decrease in financing totals. A review of biopharma start-up dealmaking and financing activity from October through December 2017, based on data from Strategic Transactions.

Derived from Strategic Transactions, Informa’s premium source for tracking life sciences deal activity, the Venture Funding Deals column provides a comprehensive monthly review of emerging life science companies that have received venture funding, including companies within the In Vitro Diagnostics, Medical Devices, and Pharmaceuticals sectors. This month’s column covers deals announced April through May 2015.

Optogenetics – technology to control neurons with light – has swept through basic neuroscience research. Efforts to commercialize optogenetics are complex, but a spunky group of start-ups plan to develop therapies using the technology.

Most of the current industry interest in autophagy – a mechanism cells use to degrade and remove damaged material – is centered on its role as a cancer drug target, but autophagy is also a neuroprotective mechanism. Now, a research team has shown its involvement in schizophrenia, opening the door for new drug and diagnostic development efforts.