Diseases as solutions

SynCell is fighting the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics. By harnessing the power of nature and bacterial evolutionary traits, we have developed a discovery platform that naturally engineers bacteria to become biofactories of antimicrobial nanomaterials. Once produced, these nanomaterials can be used as either selective or broad spectrum solutions to fight virtually any bacterial disease. As such, our discovery platform has been used to generate the first selenium nanoparticles-based antimicrobial solution to prevent Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the skin, which currently impact the life of millions and threat the future with the development of more antibiotic-resistant strains. Our commitment is to become an alternative to antibiotics by means of a cost-effective, highly scalable and eco-friendly method that delivers safe and effective treatments that do not trigger resistance, hence impacting the life of many affected by bacterial pathologies and preventing the generation of superbugs. 

The SynCell’s platform aims to provide a quick and fast deployable solution to fight bacterial infections to healthcare providers that can be used as a replacement or in combination with lower concentrations of antibiotics, hence reducing their usage burden. In the case of our first pipeline of products around the prevention of MRSA infections, our solution is intended to be applied in wounds and avoid the need for silver dressings (standard of care along with antibiotics, and heavily associated with clinical resistance) and systemic antibiotics, offering a proper healing and faster recovery. Besides, the platform itself can potentially be used as a discovery tool to select and screen for bacterial pathogens. 

The SynCell platform is called SYN-BAC, and it is defined as a discovery platform that use bacteria to produce metallic nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties. The first product released has been produced using MRSA and is intended to be used to prevent MRSA infections in open wounds. The beauty of the platform and its products is the versatility and selectivity that it offers. The nanoparticles produced are composed of a metal-based core and an organic-like corona surrounding the spheres (also known as protein corona), whose composition is directly related to the bacterial strain that was used to produce them. Once the nanoparticles are added to an open wound, these are recognized by the target bacteria (MRSA) and the natural microbiota of the patient. Then, by microbial mechanisms of quorum sensing and bacterial recognition, the behavior of the bacteria present change after recognizing the protein corona of the nanoparticles as either something familiar or unfamiliar. The targeted bacterium (MRSA) proliferates around the nanoparticles and update them, while the natural microbiota stay away as it would do with invading species. Eventually, the nanoparticles exert their antimicrobial effect and kill the isolates by a unique mechanism that does not trigger resistance to the treatment.  

The SynCell platform can impact the life of virtually every single patient in the world that suffers from a bacterial infection, either standard or antibiotic resistant one, hence reducing the chances to generate superbugs or offering a solution that do not require antibiotics, respectively. However, at SynCell, we are committed to bring our platform to those who most needed, and we would like to deploy our solutions in this geographical areas that have either a significant lack of access to quality of care or have low regulations around the use of antibiotics. 

At the end, our users are the patients, and right now, the solutions to which they have access are far from ideal. In developed countries, if the patients gets a bacterial infections, the first choice of treatment is always a variable course of antibiotics that will deteriorate the natural microbiota (which is indeed helping the immune system to fight the infection) and will impact the emergence of antibiotic-resistant superbugs by selecting for resistant organisms. However, if they have got an already resistant bacterial strain, their treatment selection are more limited and risky, as they will receive a more severe course of powerful antibiotics that might or might not cure them. Nonetheless, we must realize that all the above-described happen in developed countries, which situations raising alarms in developing one, where the access to healthcare of quality is limited and antibiotics are circulated as commodities with almost no regulation, which is having a direct impact in the future of a heavily globalized and intercommunicated world. 

In order to offer an alternative to the current situation, we decided to create and develop a platform for antimicrobial discovery that can use the specific bacterial disease to produce selected antimicrobial drugs that could be used to either destroy the same pathogen, or offer a broad spectrum solution. Once we did this, we went to our potential users and customers, and showed them what we could offer. We learnt from them and came back to the lab to redefine a solution that could end their suffering, reason why we develop our first pipeline of products focused on the prevention of MRSA infections, the almost universal cause of life-threatening bacterial diseases in the skin. 

Our solution will satisfy the needs of all of them by offering a safe, effective and long-lasting solution to their problems that would give them the choice of secure a quality treatment (without or combined with lower doses of antibiotics) that will not trigger resistance, hence impacting their health and the one of all those around them. 

The problem we are addressing is the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in the form of outbreaks, by offering an easily-deployable and highly-scalable platform for the production of nanosized antimicrobials to the all population segments in developing countries.

We propose a solution to reduce the risk of future health security threats. Our platform can be used to both prevent and treat, although we prioritize the preventive component. As such, we want to become a shield that protects people from pathogenic bacteria and superbugs that threat not just those in the outbreak area, but everyone else in the rest of the world.

We started the company a year ago as a University spin-out with a platform with 4 years of maturation in the lab. We received non diluted funding to pursue the scalability and lead candidate validation of our platform. We developed an MVP and prototype of both the scalability model and a potential delivery method for our solution. Currently, we are moving forward with the regulation of the active component (the nanoparticles) that are generated by our platform. 

Our technology provides a new solution for an old problem by changing the approach that current antibiotics take fighting diseases. We aim to use the disease to produce the cure, instead of going to the lab and develop new drugs. We want to incorporate part of the disease in the cure but keeping it real and approachable to the current standards of care. 

We then expect our technology to change the market, disrupting how current approaches act but without impacting the supply chains and distribution channels of current antimicrobials. 

Currently: 0 (development phase)

Next year: 0 (filling FDA)

Five years: Hundreds (clinical trials)

By early adopters, physicians and investors that provide resources and times to our commitment. 

Full-time staff: 2

Part-time staff: 4

Others (directors, advisors): 7

Our executive and advisory board is completed by experts in the field, in both academia and industry side, as well as mentors that have worked in the biotech space before. On the other hand, the company was originally created by young entrepreneurs who wanted to change the world, and whose passion is still in the company as founding members and active assets. 

Our culture is one of open doors, where we have and will always welcome new ideas and passion regarding of their origin. We have always encourage such diversity and try to equally distribute responsibilities and achievements among all groups in our company. 

We want to offer the world an alternative to the most widely and well-established antimicrobial solution out there: antibiotics, and we want to do it in a way that change the minds of those that believe that there is only one way forward.

We would like to have the help of some seasoned mentors in the space, as well as get some guidance in our business development within the biotech antimicrobial space. 

We would like to partner with the big Pharma companies distributing topical antimicrobial products to fight skin infections, as they are the one that have resources and distribution channels ready for a platform like ours.