We engineer the billion-years-old natural machinery of microalgae to develop therapeutics delivered by microalgae extracellular vesicles (mEVs).
Our highly versatile, proprietary technology platform can be applied to a diversity of targets and purposes. As part of our initial focus on anti-infectives, we develop microalgae-induced gene silencing therapeutics, delivered by microalgae extracellular vesicles, aimed at killing or blocking the replication of human pathogens.
Our proprietary platform enables the generation of stable producer cell lines from genetically engineered microalgae, for therapeutics applications. The microalgae are then used to express custom, targeted RNAi (siRNA or miRNA) which are directly embedded, by the same microalgae, into their own extracellular vesicles.
The therapeutic agents (RNAi) produced by our initial set of microalgae cell lines are designed to be pathogen-killers independent of their antibiotic resistance (bacteria) and their immunogenicity or escape mutability (viruses). Welcome the next generation of antibacterial and antiviral biotherapeutics.
We take advantage of the versatility of RNAi, used to down-regulate the expression of target genes in specific hand-picked gene sequences, and aim at any and all regions, both structural and functional, where essential, pathogenic, or resistance genes are present.
All the action happens simultaneously, like a shotgun.
True to EVs’ natural role as primary communication channel between cells, we engineered our microalgae-based EVs (MEVs) to serve as Drug Delivery System (DDS), to carry, protect, and deliver their cargo right into human or bacterial cells. By design, MEVs can be either generic (targeting a variety of tissues and allowing for multiple administration routes) or specific.
Microalgae are free from human pathogens (e.g. viruses, mycoplasma), and their MEVs are non-toxic as well as non-immunogenic for humans. Unlike most of the current pharmaceutical industry, which uses animal cells or synthetic biology for the manufacturing of proteins, viral vectors, and EVs among others, our technology offers a safer alternative.
Requiring only light, water, and salts, microalgae-based biologics are produced and purified using inherently clean and simple processes, with low-to-no media supplements, that can easily be scaled-up in compliance with cGMP regulations. Equipped with cutting-edge Photo-Bioreactors (PBRs) and industry-standard Downstream Processing (DSP) tools, we achieve a high-yield, low-cost overall process.
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