Niclas Roxhed, one of the founders of KTH Innovation's spinoff Morningstar Therapeutics, has just secured a 6.1 million SEK research grant from the LEO Foundation. This funding will advance the development of their groundbreaking spiked microneedle spheres – here used to topically deliver nucleic acids to reprogram skin cells and treating atopic eczema in a model.
This innovative approach, developed in collaboration with Samir EL Andaloussi’s lab at the Karolinska Institute, represents a significant leap toward integrating biologics into topical skin creams, reaching new levels of efficacy.
Morningstar Therapeutics is one of the teams in the KTH Innovation pre-incubator program. The three co-founders are KTH affiliates: William Ferreira Andrén, CEO, is studying the master’s in medical biotechnology. Theocharis Nikiforos Iordanidis, CTO, is doing his PhD in Micro and Nano systems. Niclas Roxhed is an associate professor at the Micro and Nano systems division, is an expert in micro needles, and a serial entrepreneur.
– We are in a really exciting time for Morningstar Therapeutics and from the beginning of May I will spend 4 months at Stanford University completing my Master’s Thesis in Medical Biotechnology at KTH. I will focus on optimizing the application of our spiked microneedle spheres in creams, a crucial step for our initial products currently in development. I will also spend some time to perfect my pitch, connecting with venture capitalists and angels in Silicon Valley, says William Ferreira Andrén.