GATEWAY: Developing a New Advanced Immunotherapy Platform Using Logic-Based Cell Recognition
The GATEWAY project will develop a new platform for biological therapeutics that will use logic-based operations to recognise diseased cells in cancer and autoimmune diseases while protecting healthy cells. By using artificial intelligence for protein design, the project will establish a platform for the development and optimisation of these therapeutic agents. The National Institute of Chemistry will coordinate the project, which also involves researchers from the Swiss university EPFL and a biotechnology company based in Oxford.
The project involves the National Institute of Chemistry (NIC), which also serves as the project coordinator under the leadership of Prof. Roman Jerala. Other partners include researchers from the Swiss university EPFL and a biotechnology company based in Oxford. The total project budget is approximately €3 million. Competition in this funding call was exceptionally high, with only 2% of all applications approved (43 out of 2,103).
The contribution of the Slovenian researchers at NIC will focus on developing designs based on synthetic biology and experimentally validating the logic-gated activity of T cells. The expected outcomes of the project include experimentally validated lead candidates and a platform for the further development of immunotherapies. The National Institute of Chemistry has the expertise and infrastructure required for AI-assisted protein modelling, structural characterisation of proteins, preparation of lipid nanoparticles using microfluidics, cell biology research, and preclinical testing.
Illustration of the structure and mechanism of action of bispecific T-cell activators. The researchers will replace the clinically established architecture with designed protein domains, aiming to achieve more effective discrimination between cancerous and healthy cells.
GATEWAY is the fourth project funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) involving the research group led by Prof. Roman Jerala at NIC. The group is currently also participating in three other EIC projects – T-FITNESS, LoopOfFun and SCALPEL – in which it leads individual work packages.
GATEWAY is the first EIC project coordinated by the National Institute of Chemistry. It is also the ninth EIC-funded project awarded to NIC.
