Our investment thesis in Healthcare
Tags: Vaccines, Covid 19, VC, Ai In Healthcare, Mrna

Next we would like to introduce Kernal Biologics, an MA-based messenger RNA (mRNA) company that is developing COVID-19 vaccines and cancer therapeutics.

Our investment thesis

Reimagine therapeutics and vaccines with mRNA technologies

The central dogma of molecular biology was a demonstration of the flow of genetic information basically described as: DNA -> RNA -> protein.² It is the key link in the process of translating genetic information encoded in DNA into instructions that are used by cells to produce the proteins needed to carry out essential cellular functions. mRNA therapy is engineered to deliver mRNA encoding natural, functional proteins that replace defective or missing proteins. Simply put, it’s like a platform that instructs specific cells to naturally make their own medicine. With many years of development and refinement of RNA technology, mRNA-based therapeutics and vaccines are finally entering clinical stages.

Kernal is developing their proprietary platform that decreases immunogenicity upon existing mRNA technologies and enables cell-specific therapeutic protein expression. The two key challenges faced by current mRNA therapies could be solved by Kernal’s patented mRNA technologies:

1. Insufficient protein production for therapeutic benefit

Kernal’s patented stealth mRNA technology removes immunogenicity sequence features and leads to more abundant protein synthesis.

2. Expression is not limited to specific cells

To realize targeted expression, Kernal interrogated translatome data from normal and cancer cells, and discovered mRNA sequence features that enable cancer cell specific translation using deep learning algorithms.

We believe that Kernal’s proprietary platform with unique methods of codon-engineering and smart design would enable the company to stay in the forefront of mRNA medicine.

Kernal is looking at and beyond Covid-19

While the COVID-19 outbreak is now spreading rapidly around the world, leaving a path of devastation in its wake, mRNA treatment is a sector that might actually benefit from this pandemic. Moderna’s MRNA-1273³ and Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s BNT162b2⁴ both adopt mRNA-based approach mmunizing against SARS-CoV-2. The mRNA technology has shown advantages in speed and manufacturing in vaccine development. Benefited from these established players and their experiences, Kernal is also leveraging its technology against Covid and getting promising in-vitro experiment results.

Looking beyond Covid headlines, Kernal is also applying its technology to the emerging field of cancer immunotherapy for a more sustainable future. mRNA-based cancer vaccines and therapeutics can deliver custom-tailored medicine for individual patient. Initially going after acute myeloid leukemia (AML) which is associated with the lowest survival rates among all hematologic malignancie, Kernal is expanding into other cancer types with significant unmet medical need like lung cancer with its unique onco-selective mRNA approach.

The founders had been following the mRNA field closely

Kernal Biologics was founded by four young scientists with diverse background including synthetic biology, immune-oncology and deep learning. The Co-Founder Yusuf Erkul has been focused on cancer research since his undergraduate study at MIT. Before going back to medical school to become a physician, he joined Merck & Co.’s oncology department as a scientist and was focused on RNA based drug discovery there. The other co-founder Burak Yilmaz is also a scientist focused on synthetic biology as well as an entrepreneur. He founded Sentegen Biotech in 2010, which manufactures synthetic genes, oligonucleotides, and diagnostic probes, and later decided to establish Kernal with Yusuf.

Kernal’s mRNA technology is getting more and more recognition

Currently in MassBio’s MassConnect Program, Kernal was once a member of MIT Startup Excahnge and Y Combinator, winner of Amgen’s Golden Ticket, and was selected to join 2018 MassChallenge. These awards and experiences help Kernal accumulate resources and access to industry experts and veterans for mentorship and advice.