Unleashing mRNA-based in vivo therapies
The next problem to be solved is not delivery. It is the message
The next challenge in in vivo therapies is not delivery
it is the message
Aside from vaccines, in vivo mRNA field has yet to deliver a drug product. Sometimes for lack of efficacy (too little protein), sometimes for lack of safety (too much protein).
Cellertz uses AI to unlock rational mRNA designs with predictable pharmacological profiles and bring this under control
Our mission is to unlock the full potential of mRNA therapeutics by enabling the rational design of mRNA sequences with predictable pharmacological profile.
We call it sequence-dependent pharmacology.
The Bottleneck mRNA Design
For mRNA-based in vivo therapies to work you need efficient delivery and optimized cargo. It's time to focus on the cargo.
Billions have been put to address delivery issues and things have been working. However, even in tissues where delivery works well (like the liver) mRNA-based in vivo therapies still underperform. We believe this is a sequence problem.
The Complexity Infinite mRNA design options
Once a target protein has been chosen, there is an infinite number of mRNA sequences to choose from.
For any average protein, there are more than 10ˆ140 mRNA sequences to choose from and they are not all born the same. Some can be amazing drugs, but the great majority won't be. Cellertz developed Codonscope™ to tell them apart and pick the best ones.
The Solution CodonScope™
CodonScope is the only tool that designs, ranks and optimizes mRNA for any therapeutic applications
Agnostic to indications and mRNA architecture (linear, circular or self-replicating), Codonscope has three gears: 1) GeneCellertz, 2) a predictive gear and 3) a multiparametric optimization gear.
CodonScope Deep Dive:
3 gears in the same engine
01 GeneCellertz
02 In silico Prediction Model
GeneCellertz is a AI generative novel that designs mRNA CDSs (coding sequences). Trained on approximately one million mRNA-protein sequence pairs from over 100 mammalian species. Optimises at the coding sequence level and is currently being integrated to handle 5' and 3' UTR architecture (under active development).
Currently composed of 2 models: RiboCellertz, a translation efficiency model that predicts translation efficiency directly from full-length mRNA sequences, and Half-Life Cellertz which predicts mRNA half-life from full-length mRNA. Both models are aware of the coding region and the 5' and 3' UTRs sequences. New predictive tools will be incorporated in the coming years.
Based on the parameters associated with the insiico models, this system can make redundant changes in the mRNA sequence to optimize for several mRNA parameters simultaneously achieving the best mRNA drug sequence profile.
03 Multiparametric Optimization
CEO
Marcos Valadares, PhD/MBA
Dr. Marcos Valadares is a biologist by traning with a PhD in stem cell biology and human genetics and has an MBA on health innovation management. Serial entrepreneur, co founded 2 startups being one the genetic sequencing market (GeneSeq) e another one in the iPSC cell therapy space (PluriCell, aka LizerBio). Has over 15 years of experience in the biotech space raising millions of dollars in venture capital and non-dilutive funding and negotiating/licensing patents with top US-based universities. After LizarBio, spend some time as a portfolio manager of an earlt stage start-up fund and then as Investment Officer at Abiquifi. Currently serves as the CEO of Cellertz Bio
Founder & Scientific Advisor
Edroaldo Lummertz da Rocha, PhD
Dr. Lummertz da Rocha’s research at the intersection of biology, computational biology and artificial intelligence has contributed to advance the fields of stem cell biology and engineering as well as cancer research. Dr. Lummertz da Rocha trained in prestigious universities, hospitals and research institutions, such as the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Mayo Clinic, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lummertz da Rocha is an Assistant Professor at Federal University of Santa Catarina and Affiliate Faculty of Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin. He has secured funding from the National Institutes of Health, USA, The State of Santa Catarina Research and Innovation Support Foundation (FAPESC) and the Serrapilheira Institute, Brazil, to support his laboratory’s research on hematopoiesis and cancer metastasis at the intersection with biomedical data science.
Executive Chair - Cellertz Bio
Claudia Mitchell, PhD
Claudia Mitchell is the Chair of Cellertz and the CEO of Savantia, a biotech strategy and consulting firm. She brings over 20 years of leadership experience in biopharma across the US, Europe, and Asia. Claudia is also the Chair of Cellerys and a member of the Board of Directors of Gubra and Coave Therapeutics. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at Astellas Pharma in Tokyo. Prior to that, she was CEO and co-founder of Universal Cells, a US-based biotech company acquired in 2019, and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Halo-Bio RNAi Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she held research leadership roles at INSERM in Paris and at the LGMD2I Research Fund, a US-based nonprofit. Claudia holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Paris and an MBA in International Management from École des Ponts Business School. In 2018, she was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Life Sciences for the Pacific Northwest, USA.
Board Member - Cellertz Bio
Dr. Rogerio Vivaldi Coelho
Rogério Vivaldi Coelho, M.D., M.B.A., retired as the president, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc. in December 2023. Prior to joining Sigilon, Dr. Vivaldi served as Executive Vice President and Chief Global Therapeutics Officer at Bioverativ Inc. from 2016 to 2018. Prior to that Dr. Vivaldi served as Chief Commercial Officer at Spark Therapeutics, Inc. Earlier, he held several positions of increasing responsibility over a 20-year career at Genzyme, most recently serving as the head of the company’s rare disease business, president of both the rare disease business and the renal & endocrine group, and as Senior Vice President and General Manager of its Latin America group. During his time at Genzyme, he led the successful approval of more than 15 orphan products in more than 20 countries. Dr. Vivaldi serves as a member of the board of directors and science and technology committee of Viatris Inc., a publicly traded healthcare company. Rogério also serves as a Board member of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded company and as a Chairman of the BoD of Vesper Biotechnologies, the venture builder company that co-founded Cellertz alongside Dr. Lummertz.
Rogerio earned a medical degree from the Universidade do Rio de Janeiro, after which he completed a residency in endocrinology at the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and a fellowship at Mount Sinai Hospital Center in New York in the department of genetics, focusing on Gaucher disease. He later became the first physician in Brazil to treat Gaucher disease using enzyme replacement therapy. In addition, Dr. Vivaldi holds an M.B.A. degree from COPPEAD, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Vivaldi’s experience as an executive officer in the life sciences industry and his extensive pharmaceutical commercialization and marketing experience with several different companies contributes greatly to Cellertz’s Board of Directors.
Board Member - Cellertz Bio
Jonas Sister
Jonas Sister is an economist with over 25 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, and M&A, with a proven track record in investment strategy, governance, and portfolio value creation.
He is a Co-Founding Partner and CFO at Vesper Biotechnologies, a venture builder pioneering biotech investments from Brazil, which co-founded Cellertz Bio.
Before founding Vesper, Jonas was a Partner at BRZ Investimentos, where he led investments and served on the boards of several portfolio companies during a ten-year tenure. Earlier in his career, he held roles in Strategic Planning, FP&A, and M&A at Votorantim, one of Brazil’s leading industrial conglomerates.
Jonas began his career at Nexxy Capital, a pioneer in Brazilian venture capital and part of the Exxel Group, then the largest private equity platform in Latin America.
He holds a degree in Economics from the University of São Paulo (USP), a specialization in International Management from Hogeschool Haarlem (Netherlands), and an MBA from Insper (Brazil).
Our Management Team
Our management team unites pioneering minds from science and industry who share a vision of transforming discoveries into life-changing innovations. Their insight and experience guide our path from bold ideas to real-world impact.
Computational Chemist
Felipe Silveira de Souza Schneider, PhD
Felipe is a skilled computational chemist with expertise in physical, quantum, and computational chemistry. He holds a Master's degree in physical chemistry and has recently completed his PhD in computational chemistry at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. Felipe has made significant contributions in the field, particularly through the development of a state-of-the-art tool that predicts chemical kinetic profiles of reaction mechanisms using first-principle quantum chemistry calculations exclusively. In addition to his background in chemistry, he is also a skilled software developer proficient in multiple programming languages, including Python, Julia, and Rust. His current research interests span across artificial intelligence and molecular design. With his diverse skill set and unwavering passion for scientific innovation, Felipe is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of knowledge.
Cellular and Molecular Biologist
Barbara P. Coelho, PhD
Dr. Barbara P. Coelho is a cellular and molecular biologist expert in cancer and stem cell research. She earned both her Master's and PhD degrees in Biochemistry from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Her extensive expertise encompasses diverse research projects involving complex cellular models, such as induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and organoids, which were developed during her postdoctoral fellow at the University of Sao Paulo. Passionate about deciphering intricate scientific challenges, Bárbara thrives on the complexities of her field. She is dedicated to making impactful contributions to cancer therapy research.
Data Scientist
Gabriela Luiz, PhD
Bioinformatician expert on NGS data analysis and development of complex pipelines. She has extensive experience in omics approaches to study parasite-host relationship and worked on several genomic and transcriptomic projects, extracting information from data using bioinformatics analyzes in Perl, R, Bash and Python languages. She also was Statistics professor for Biological Sciences and Agronomy courses and in her postdoctoral studies, she developed an integrative analysis of hematopoietic stem cell atlas using single cell transcriptomic data.
Our Scientific Team
Working at the forefront of cutting-edge research and development, our team is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of scientific discovery.
We embrace the challenges of developing novel therapies and strive to translate our collective knowledge and skills into groundbreaking solutions that have the potential to transform lives.
Selected Publications
CellComm infers cellular crosstalk that drives haematopoietic stem and progenitor cell development
Nat Cell Biol. 2022 Apr.
EZH1 repression generates mature iPSC-derived CAR T cells with enhanced antitumor activity
Cell Stem Cell 2022
The developmental stage of the hematopoietic niche regulates lineage in MLL-rearranged leukemia
JEM 2019
NetDecoder: a network biology platform that decodes context-specific biological networks and gene activities
Nucleic Acids Res 2016
