Founded in 2022 in San Diego, California, Cisterna Biologics is a technology company. We aim to solve the main challenges currently facing the biotech industry to develop mRNA-based therapeutics – quality, quantity, longevity, and cost. As mRNA technology matures, it becomes imperative that these issues are solved so we can fully explore mRNA's endless possibilities as a therapeutic.

 

For therapeutic applications, the quality of the mRNA needs to be extremely high compared to mRNA used for vaccines. Cisterna uses proprietary technologies to either remove a contaminant at its source or replace the source itself. For example, to remove double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), we use ribozymes - molecular scissors - to precisely cut the mRNA at its 3’ end. This assures not only 3’ homogeneity, but also eliminates dsRNA, which are primarily produced due to self-templated additions at the 3’ end. Utilizing a PCR-like system to amplify the DNA template in large quantities eliminates the requirement for plasmid enrichment in bacteria, the prime source of endotoxin contamination. These are just a few examples of Cisterna’s powerful technologies being used to achieve our goal of 10x higher quality mRNA for therapeutic application.

 

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