Synfini Inc. And O2nix Bio Form Strategic Partnership To Develop First-In-Class Cancer Therapies Targeting FTSJ1

Synfini Inc., a company specializing in AI-powered drug discovery, has entered into a strategic collaboration with O2nix Bio, a biotechnology firm focused on developing prooxidant therapies. The two companies will jointly discover and develop new drug candidates that target FTSJ1, a tRNA-modifying enzyme linked to the survival of metastatic cancer cells. This partnership represents the first commercial collaboration for O2nix Bio as a privately funded, independent biotech company.

The collaboration will leverage the strengths of both partners. O2nix Bio brings deep expertise in cancer biology and RNA modification, particularly in the area of tRNA methylation. The company was founded by Dr. Elena Piskounova, a cancer biologist and principal investigator at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Piskounova’s research, including recent publications in “Nature Cancer”, has highlighted the role of enzymes like FTSJ1 in helping cancer cells survive oxidative stress—an important factor in metastasis. The collaboration aims to turn this research into targeted treatments for metastatic cancer.

Elena Piskounova, Ph.D., founder and CEO of O2nix Bio, stated, “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Synfini team. Their chemistry automation platform, paired with our mechanistic insights into RNA modifications, will allow us to advance first-in-class therapies targeting cancer metastasis which is responsible for over 90% of cancer-related deaths and still largely untreatable by current therapies.”

Doug Donzelli, CEO of Synfini Inc, mentioned, “We are very pleased to work with O2nix Bio on such a promising and clinically urgent target. O2nix’s world-class biology and focus on metastasis aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver high-impact therapeutics by dramatically reducing the time and cost of drug discovery. Through this collaboration, we hope to accelerate the development of important new cancer-fighting drugs to market more quickly, helping patients live longer, healthier lives.”

Synfini will contribute its AI Cloud Foundry platform, an integrated system designed to streamline the drug discovery process. The platform combines symbolic and neural AI models with real-time experimental data to speed up the design-make-test-analyze (DMTA) cycle. This approach helps discovery teams quickly identify and optimize molecules with desirable therapeutic properties, improving both speed and efficiency in early-stage drug development. By combining O2nix Bio’s scientific insights and Synfini’s automation and AI capabilities, the two companies aim to accelerate the development of first-in-class therapies targeting cancer metastasis through modulation of RNA-modifying enzymes.