48 NEW SPIN-OFF Creation of THERAtRAME, A unique and new approach to expand the cancer target space THERAtRAME SA is a new spin-off of the University of Liège and WELBIO which develop novel cancer medicines in the field of tRNA epitranscriptomics. THERAtRAME, incubated at the Belgian start-up accelerator VentureLab since 2020, was founded based on new insights in tRNA epitranscriptomics resulting from over a decade of fundamental research in the laboratories of Professors Dr. Alain Chariot, Dr. Francesca Rapino and Dr. Pierre Close at GIGA and WELBIO. Their work has revealed that cancer cells seize control of the protein synthesis process by making specific modifications in the tRNA, an essential component of the protein translationmachinery, to support the cells’ rapid growth, metastasis and resistance against existing drugs. This new discovery exposes previously underexplored vulnerabilities in cancer that are now being targeted by THERAtRAME’s drug discovery platform to develop first-in-class small molecule therapeutics to address the high unmet medical needs in cancer treatment. In addition, THERAtRAME leverages its proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to discover new unpredicted key players in cancer development and to identify the most promising oncology indications for clinical studies. The founders, Dr. Pierre Close and Dr. Francesca Rapino, are both WELBIO Principal Investigators at GIGA, Foundation against Cancer laureates and, respectively, FNRS Senior research associate and FNRS Research associate. Pierre Close is the principal investigator of the Laboratory of Cancer Signaling. The work of his laboratory focuses on elucidating the mechanisms underlying cancer development through changes in proteome expression and mRNA translation via tRNA regulation. Francesca Rapino, as head of the Laboratory of Cancer Stemness, investigates the role of tRNA in cancer stem cells and cellular differentiation and is awardee of the competitive European Research Council (ERC) starting grant. Pierre Close and Francesca Rapino will join THERAtRAME as Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Operating Officer, respectively. GIGA-INNOVATION
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