TraffikGene is a spinoff project from the Universidad of Santiago de Compostela (NewCo establishment projected Q4 2024), which originates within the research group led by Prof. Javier Montenegro.
TraffikGene’s technology overcomes many of the current limitations in nucleic acid therapeutics delivery leveraging on a conceptually new proprietary technology platform. Our approach is based on short peptides that are decorated with hydrophobic tails via click chemistry ligation to generate hundreds of different carriers with tuneable structural properties. After the carrier library is generated, every individual candidate is formulated with different gene material cargos to perform a high-throughput screening functional analysis which allows carrier hit identification.
Given that only a single carrier molecule is required for the effective delivery of nucleic acids, it is possible to extract structure-activity relationships to select tailored carriers for specific characteristics such as cargo type or in vivo targeting. TraffikGene gene delivery vehicles are readily disassembled into easily processable components for the cells, which makes them non-immunogenic and safe to use in diverse therapeutic settings.
Ignicia Prueba de Concepto. Xunta de Galicia and Fundación Barrié. TraffikGene: new peptide vehicles for gene therapy applications. Amount: €498,000. From 01/01/2022 to 31/05/2024.
Spanish Carlos III Health Institute. Support for the investigation of the technology application for SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. Amount: €126,425. From 30/04/2020 to 30/08/2021.
ERC-PoC. Support for proof–of-concept validation of the delivery technology discovered during DYNAP. Amount: €150,000. From 01/07/2019 to 39/06/2021.
ERC-StG. Dynamic Penetrating Peptide Adaptamers. €1,492,525. From 01/02/2016 to 31/07/2022.
Horizon Europe – EIC Transition Challenges RNA therapeutics for complex and rare genetics deseases: Targeted Peptide Carriers for RNA Delivery. Amount: €2,499,999. From 01/06/2023 to 31/07/2026.
Horizon Europe – EIC Pathfinder Open. CAR T cells Rewired to prevent EXhaustion in the tumour microenvironment. Total Project amount: € 2,733,931.25 (Individual funding: € 560,512.50). From 01/04/2023 to 31/03/2027.
Plan Complementario de Biotecnología Aplicada a Salud (PCBAS) colaborative project with IDIS under the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia. Duration: 18 months. Amount: 75.000 €
Spanish AEI: Prueba de Concepto. A New Chemical Platform for Customized Gene Therapy. Amount: €150,000. From 01/12/2021 to 31/07/2024.
Spanish AEI: Proyectos I+D+i. Conceptually new chemical tools for the next generation of nucleic acid delivery vehicles. Amount: €242,000. From 01/09/2021 to31/08/2024.
Biotech incubator sponsored by the University of Santiago de Compostela, Uninova, and Cámara de Comercio de Santiago. Remote pre-incubation modality. 2021.
Programa INTERREG V-A España – Portugal (POCT EP) 2014-2020. Acceleration and mentorship activities for deep tech entrepreneurship initiatives in the Galician and North of Portugal regions. 2021 to June 2022.
Horizon Europe – EIC Transition Challenges RNA therapeutics for complex and rare genetics deseases: Targeted Peptide Carriers for RNA Delivery. Amount: €2,499,999. From 01/06/2023 to 31/07/2026.
Horizon Europe – EIC Pathfinder Open. CAR T cells Rewired to prevent EXhaustion in the tumour microenvironment. Total Project amount: € 2,733,931.25 (Individual funding: € 560,512.50). From 01/04/2023 to 31/03/2027.
Plan Complementario de Biotecnología Aplicada a Salud (PCBAS) colaborative project with IDIS under the Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia. Duration: 18 months. Amount: 75.000 €
Ignicia Prueba de Concepto. Xunta de Galicia and Fundación Barrié. TraffikGene: new peptide vehicles for gene therapy applications. Amount: €498,000. From 01/01/2022 to 31/05/2024.
Spanish AEI: Prueba de Concepto. A New Chemical Platform for Customized Gene Therapy. Amount: €150,000. From 01/12/2021 to 31/07/2024.
Spanish AEI: Proyectos I+D+i. Conceptually new chemical tools for the next generation of nucleic acid delivery vehicles. Amount: €242,000. From 01/09/2021 to31/08/2024.
Biotech incubator sponsored by the University of Santiago de Compostela, Uninova, and Cámara de Comercio de Santiago. Remote pre-incubation modality. 2021.
Programa INTERREG V-A España – Portugal (POCT EP) 2014-2020. Acceleration and mentorship activities for deep tech entrepreneurship initiatives in the Galician and North of Portugal regions. 2021 to June 2022.
Spanish Carlos III Health Institute. Support for the investigation of the technology application for SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccination. Amount: €126,425. From 30/04/2020 to 30/08/2021.
ERC-PoC. Support for proof–of-concept validation of the delivery technology discovered during DYNAP. Amount: €150,000. From 01/07/2019 to 39/06/2021.
ERC-StG. Dynamic Penetrating Peptide Adaptamers. €1,492,525. From 01/02/2016 to 31/07/2022.
Javier Montenegro is Distinguished Research Professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela (Oportunius by Xunta de Galicia) and principal investigator in the CIQUS. Professor Montenegro holds a PhD from the USC and was a visiting scientist at Cambridge University and the Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA) before completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Geneva. Professor Montenegro acts as Principal Scientist.
Marisa developed the core TraffikGene technology during her PhD at the University of Santiago de Compostela in Professor Montenegro’s group. She was also a visiting scientist at the Institut Curie in Paris, France. After receiving her PhD in 2019 she continued at USC as a postdoctoral researcher to further develop the TraffikGene Project, where she leads formulation, in vitro, and in vivo research areas.
Alberto has been COO of TraffikGene since he joined the project in 2019. He obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Santiago in 2019. Alberto has been a visiting scientist at UC San Diego. Alberto is responsible for day to day operations of TraffikGene including IP, Contracting, Tech Transfer, Securing non-dilutive funding while additionally supporting the project as a synthetic chemist.
Irene received her PhD in 2015 from the University of Santiago de Compostela in Molecular Virology under the supervision of Professor Javier Benavente. Subsequently Irene performed postdoctoral research in Professor Montenegro’s group where she pioneered new techniques to deliver both nucleic acids and proteins into cells including her breakthrough work on packaging and delivery of ribonucleoprotein Cas9 into mammalian cells. Irene leads all of TraffikGene’s biology division.
Mark received PhD in 1992 from The University of Oxford after which he performed postdoctoral research in Professor Hartl’s lab at the Sloan Kettering Institute in New York. In 2000 Mark joined McKinsey and Company and consulted to Pharma and Biotech clients until 2006 at which time he joined Esteve, a Spanish Pharma Company based in Barcelona. Mark left Esteve in 2020 as Head of Business and Corporate Development. Since 2020 Mark has been an independent consultant.
Sonia received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela and then joined a chemical company where she developed tasks in the field of Compliance and Quality Control.
Elena received her BSc in Biology (2014) and a Masters degree in Neurosciences (2015). After being involved for 4 years in stroke research, Elena joined TraffikGene in 2022. She carries out both in vitro and in vivo related tasks related to the project.
María obtained her PhD in Endocrinology from the University of Santiago de Compostela in 2024 under the supervision of Professors Miguel López and Olga Barca. After working for a company performing preclinical assays, she joined TraffikGene as an in vivo researcher.
David obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry at Leiden University and performed a postdoctoral stay at Utrecht University working on the development of synthetic tools for RNA targeting. He joined TraffikGene in late 2024 as a synthetic chemist, where he focuses on the synthesis and characterization of novel polypetide scaffolds for nucleic acid delivery.
Diego holds a double BSc degree in Chemistry and Biology and a Masters degree in Industrial Chemistry.
Manuel received his BSc in Biotechnology from University of León and MSc degree in Chemistry at the Interface with Biology and Materials Science.
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