Super Mendelian Microfactories
Yeast has been used for centuries to make bread, beer, and wine. Since the late 20th century, it has also been used to produce important medicines like insulin. For the bioeconomy, where biological processes create sustainable products, yeast can be harnessed to make a wide range of products, from flavours and fragrances to materials and […]
Evoducta
Many everyday products are produced through fermentation by microorganisms—some obvious, like the yoghurt you have for breakfast; others less obvious, like the citric acid in your favourite soda. The long list of industrial fermentation processes continues to grow for two key reasons: (1) They can produce complex substances that are otherwise difficult or impossible to […]
Constellate
CONSTELLATE helps protein-based therapeutics developers roll out life-saving drugs faster by accelerating critical analyses in drug development. To produce a protein-based therapeutic, developers employ living cells. These cells often modify the therapeutic by, for instance, attaching large sugar molecules to it. It is critical to monitor such modifications as they influence the activity and stability […]
Immunoshredder
Immunoshredder is developing a novel drug to treat blood cancers and autoimmune diseases more effectively and with fewer side effects than current treatments. Existing drugs inhibit both immunoproteasomes and constitutive proteasomes, causing severe side effects by damaging healthy cells. Immunoshredder has created a first-in-class drug that selectively inhibits only immunoproteasomes, which are primarily found in […]
Hello R&D
We are HelloR&D, a liver toxicity prediction company for novel drugs, compounds and chemicals. Based on our proprietary technology, the hepatocyte-like liver organoids (HeLLOs), we are developing a comprehensive toxicity testing platform to provide mechanistic insights for drug developers. With this, we help derisking and instructing further development. We have already validated our technology to […]
Happy Bar
At the core of our initiative is the urgent need to tackle the rising global prevalence of mental health disorders, including depression and anxiety. These conditions not only diminish individuals’ quality of life but also place a heavy financial burden on society. Recent studies have demonstrated a strong connection between the gut microbiome and mental […]
Silver Bullet
At Leiden University, and our spin-off company GenLumina, we are working on innovative ways to treat cancer. We develop tiny, DNA-based structures that can target and treat cancer cells with incredible precision. Imagine an automated treatment device that detects cancer on or in the body, and delivers light to effectively treat it with minimal side […]
PanaxTX
Corticosteroid drugs, such as dexamethasone and prednisolone, are among the most prescribed drugs in the world. These immune-suppressive drugs are very effective against inflammatory and auto-immune diseases, such as asthma, psoriasis, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis. However, their use is limited by their side effects, which are severe and include osteoporosis, elevated blood sugar […]
OsteoGlycin
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a prevalent and deadly lung disease (third leading cause of death worldwide), caused mainly by tobacco smoke and air pollutants. With approximately 300 million patients worldwide, the economic burden is projected to reach INT$ 4.326 trillion by 2050. The key problem underlying COPD pathogenesis is increased tissue destruction and […]
Prolispot
Detection of rare dividing cells in blood samples and complex cell mixtures is currently not feasible with existing techniques, which are insufficiently sensitive for biomedical applications. This is critical for applications such as quantifying proliferating cancer and T cells, determining vaccine efficacy, and measuring tumor immune responses or emerging pathogens. Existing methods struggle to detect […]
