Cellgebra

The dominant cause of drug failure (40 to 80%) at clinical trial is inefficacy, which is a result of poor understanding of the molecular mechanisms that cause disease. Reliable pre-clinical models remain difficult to establish and are expensive for high volume testing.

Cellgebra offers an alternative approach by analysing relevant patient tissue to produce virtual tumour models that simulate the cell signalling activity of the diseased tissue. These virtual tumour models can then be used to predict the tumour's response to a given drug.

These models enable a wide range of quick and low-cost in silico experiments for different patient populations across the drug development cycle: identifying new drug targets, testing efficacy of drug molecules based on specific on and off target profile, identifying responsive patient populations, identifying effective drug combinations and predicting future resistance mechanisms.

Promoters

• Prof. Brona Murphy, Academic Founder
• Dr Katja Rybakova, Technical Lead

Current status

• Completing Enterprise Ireland-funded R&D programme
• Seeking collaborative research opportunities with industry customers

Next steps

• Spin-out 2027