10.000.000 people

die of cancer worldwide every year1.

80,9%

of malignant brain tumors in adults are gliomas2.

Quality of life

Glioma patients not only suffer from all common cancer symptoms, but also from neurological complications like seizures and blindness3.

Survival

Patients with glioblastoma only have a five year survival rate of 6,8%4.

Surgery, radiation and chemotherapy

have remained the unaltered standard for the past three decades3, however, they rarely achieve life-improving outcomes5. This needs to change.

Targeted Therapeutics

have given patients higher survival rates2. We need more of these therapies.

Our novel mRNA

therapeutics target specific types of glioma and selectively kill cancer cells, leaving healthy tissue unharmed6.

The mRNA molecules

are activated by tumor-markers, enabling the translation of a cytotoxic protein6.

For our therapeutics to work,

we will provide a new and improved approach to time-efficient diagnostic sequencing.

This is ✲ASTERISK

Advanced sequencing of tumor-markers enabling RNA-based intraoperative sensing and killing.

Conclusion

We hope to advance the development of new glioma therapies and inspire scientists to tackle this challenge with an innovative approach. Additionally, we trust that this groundbreaking idea can help in other fields of research and be adapted to treat different types of cancer. That is why we will provide a software solution that makes it possible for everyone to design their own sensors for their respective application.


Awards

We are proud to say that we were awarded the Impact Grant for our project ASTERISK. We are grateful that the judging professionals deemed our project worthy of the financial aid alongside the extra spotlight we were put under after receiving the Grant.

Additionally, we are beyond thrilled to announce that we were awarded the Gold Medal in the Overgrad category of the iGEM competition. After our presentation and the judging session we were informed of our success on the final day of the 2023 Giant Jamboree.

  • [1] Ferlay J, Colombet M, Soerjomataram I, Parkin DM, Piñeros M, Znaor A, Bray F. Cancer statistics for the year 2020: An overview. Int J Cancer. 2021 Apr 5. doi: 10.1002/ijc.33588 . Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33818764.
  • [2] Pellerino, A., Caccese, M., Padovan, M. et al. Epidemiology, risk factors, and prognostic factors of gliomas. Clin Transl Imaging 10, 467–475 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40336-022-00489-6
  • [3] Bush NA, Chang SM, Berger MS. Current and future strategies for treatment of glioma. Neurosurg Rev. 2017 Jan;40(1):1-14. doi: 10.1007/s10143-016-0709-8 . Epub 2016 Apr 16. PMID: 27085859
  • [4] Chen L, Ma J, Zou Z, Liu H, Liu C, Gong S, Gao X, Liang G. Clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with glioblastoma: A review of survival analysis of 1674 patients based on SEER database. Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 Nov 25;101(47):e32042. doi: 10.1097/MD.0000000000032042 . PMID: 36451503; PMCID: PMC9704894.
  • [5] Wang, J., Hu, G. & Quan, X. (2019). Analysis of the factors affecting the prognosis of glioma patients. Open Medicine, 14(1), 331-335. https://doi.org/10.1515/med-2019-0031 .
  • [6] Gayet, Raphaël V., et al. “Autocatalytic Base Editing for RNA-Responsive Translational Control.” Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, Mar. 2023, p. 1339, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36851-z .