Profluent Bio Announces Strategic Collaboration with Ensoma to Develop AI-Designed Base Editors for In Vivo Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapies

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Profluent, a leader in frontier AI for protein design, today announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Ensoma, an in vivo cellular engineering company with a mission to advance the future of medicine through one-time therapies. Under the agreement, the companies will leverage Profluent’s AI-designed deaminases in connection with Ensoma’s gene editing scaffolds and helper-dependent adenovirus (HDAd) delivery systems to design, develop, and evaluate AI-designed base editors for in vivo hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) therapies, which will inform future translational decisions.

HSCs are continuously self-renewing and able to differentiate into specialized blood and immune cells. In vivo HSC editing can create a potentially durable supply of engineered blood and immune cells with the aim to directly treat the cause of certain hematologic and immune diseases. Ensoma is a leader in HSC engineering and is the first company to enter the clinic with an in vivo therapeutic for gene insertion into HSCs. Advances in AI-designed base editors pioneered by Profluent may enable next-generation in vivo therapies that balance activity and precision.

“Gene editing has profound potential to transform biomedical research and how we treat disease. Generative AI lets us sculpt enzymes to the biological context that matters,” said Ali Madani, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Profluent. “We are thrilled to be working with Ensoma to support the future of their incredible platform and the potential of our editor designs for in vivo HSC settings, where precision and durability count.”

“AI protein design is a potentially powerful enabler to our vision for one-time treatments addressing a wide range of serious diseases, including many difficult-to-treat genetic conditions,” said Jim Burns, CEO of Ensoma. “Profluent’s platform for precision design of gene editors is very exciting. Their technology offers more opportunities to potentially deliver the next wave of in vivo gene editing.”

Profluent has applied its frontier AI for protein design to a range of gene editing applications since the launch of OpenCRISPR-1^TM, which is enabling researchers across a wide range of applications. The company recently announced partnerships with Revvity to design enhanced base editing systems, as well as with the Rett Syndrome Research Trust to design custom gene editors targeting the mutations that cause the rare neurodegenerative disease.

About Profluent Bio

Profluent is an AI-first company pushing the frontier of de novo protein design to author new biology. Grounded in nature with AI as an interpreter, Profluent’s powerful foundation model platform unlocks solutions that transform medicine, agriculture, and beyond. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Emeryville, CA, Profluent is backed by leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, and Convergent Ventures. To learn more, visit profluent.bio or follow the company on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.