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From science to business: translating live biotherapeutic products to the clinic

At Pulmobiotics, we engineer bacteria for the treatment of respiratory diseases. Here, we outline how we designed MycoChassis — an attenuated bacterium strain obtained by genome engineering of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (a human lung pathogen) — and discuss the challenges on the road to its clinical translation.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge Pulmobiotics’ scientific team and the group of Design of Biological Systems (CRG) for the collaborative efforts that made possible the development of the proof-of-concept, especially L. Serrano, Principal Investigator of the group, co-founder of Pulmobiotics and CRG director.I would also like to thank the Technology and Business Development Office (TBDO; CRG), especially S. Tortola, A. Sanchez and C. Santos (now CEO of Pulmobiotics) for their support in the creation of Pulmobiotics. Special thanks to our investor Invivo Capital for their financial backing and strategic and business development support. Pulmobiotics is financed by Invivo Capital, by a project funded by CDTI with the collaboration of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and co-financed by the European Union Next Generation EU with the file number SNEO 20211019, by project CPP2021-008552 funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR and by the European Union’s EIC Transition program, under Grant Agreement N° 101098475.

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Correspondence to Maria Lluch-Senar.

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M.L-S. is currently working in Pulmobiotics as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) where she is co-author of patents and co-founder of the company.

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Lluch-Senar, M. From science to business: translating live biotherapeutic products to the clinic. Nat Rev Bioeng 1, 462–463 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00078-w

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