One of the biggest challenges with both traditional delivery systems and newer technologies is that they are internalized by cells through endosomes, leading to significant cargo degradation before it can perform its therapeutic function.
To bypass endosomal degradation, we developed a system that delivers cargo through direct membrane fusion, avoiding entrapment. We identified human membrane proteins with natural fusogenic properties and bioengineered them to combine with our core technology, ensuring cargo protection and precise encapsulation.
Unlike most delivery technologies that aim to evade the body's defenses to minimize immune responses and toxicity, our approach does the opposite. We have developed a technology that communicates directly with the cells of your body, identifying diseased cells and actively guiding them toward restoration and healing.
For thar we focused on creating a guided and specific delivery system by mimicking how cells naturally communicate—through specific receptor interactions. This led us to develop the targeting moiety, a molecule designed to interact only with a specific receptor on a specific cell type, ensuring unmatched precision in delivery.
Our initial studies identified a subclass of human proteins with outstanding fusogenic capacities. However, its natural binding capacities avoid the possibility to use that human protein in our system, since it binds the receptors that it does in the nature. To redesign the cellular specificity while keeping the natural fusogenic capaciity, we conducted:
✅ 3D structural analysis to understand protein folding and receptor binding.
✅ Molecular docking simulations (GRAMM) to model interactions between the fusogenic protein and target receptors.
✅ Molecular dynamics simulations (GROMACS, 50-nanosecond evaluations) to assess interaction stability.
✅ Advanced computational analyses (RMSD, RMSF, SASA, Gibbs free energy, and binding energy) to optimize receptor affinity and stability
With these insights, we engineered a fusogenic protein with modulated specificity, ensuring it interacts only with its intended receptor. When combined with the targeting moiety, this forms a fully human-based envelope, guiding nanoparticles directly to their target cells with unparalleled efficiency and safety.
