Elicera Therapeutics co-founder awarded SEK 4 million grant for CAR-T research
The Swedish Research Council has granted SEK 4 million to Dr. Di Yu to study methods for enhancing CAR-T cell efficacy against solid tumors.
Dr. Di Yu, co-founder of Elicera Therapeutics, has secured a four-year research grant totaling SEK 4 million from the Swedish Research Council. The funding will support efforts to refine the design of CAR-T cells, with a specific focus on improving their persistence in the human body and their ability to penetrate solid tumor environments.
Elicera Therapeutics stated that the outcomes of this research are expected to align with the company’s internal development of its iTANK technology. The study aims to provide foundational data on immune cell behavior that could eventually inform the clinical optimization of CAR-T therapies.
CAR-T cell therapy involves the genetic modification of a patient’s immune cells to target and eliminate cancer. While the technology has shown success in blood-based cancers, extending its efficacy to solid tumors remains a primary hurdle in oncology. This research project seeks to address the biological limitations that currently restrict the application of these therapies.