Tessera Therapeutics Secures Up To $41.3 Million Award From ARPA-H To Advance Next-Generation In Vivo CAR-T Therapies

Tessera Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a novel approach to genome engineering through its Gene Writing and delivery platforms, has been awarded up to $41.3 million in funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The grant is part of ARPA-H’s Engineering of Immune Cells Inside the Body (EMBODY) program, led by Program Manager Daria Fedyukina, Ph.D. The funding will support Tessera’s efforts to develop in vivo CAR-T therapies that use the company’s Gene Writing and proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP)-based delivery platforms to engineer functional CAR-T cells directly within the body.

Tessera’s Gene Writers™ are designed to integrate therapeutic genetic instructions precisely and permanently into the genome, enabling the creation of CAR-T cells without the use of viral vectors. By formulating its Gene Writer in a targeted LNP, Tessera aims to produce disease-specific CAR-T cells through a single intravenous dose, eliminating the need for complex ex vivo cell engineering, viral manufacturing, and toxic lymphodepletion typically required for current CAR-T therapies.

Dr. Michael Holmes, Chief Scientific Officer at Tessera Therapeutics, expressed that this funding will accelerate the company’s mission to transform immunotherapy development. He highlighted that the technology has the potential to make CAR-T treatments more accessible, safer, and scalable by removing several limitations associated with traditional manufacturing approaches.

Under the EMBODY program, Tessera will focus on developing in vivo CAR-T therapies for use in oncology and autoimmune diseases. The initiative will leverage targeted LNPs that enable highly efficient and specific delivery to T cells. Preclinical studies have already demonstrated strong delivery performance and successful CAR transgene integration, indicating the potential for single-dose, curative therapies. This ARPA-H award further strengthens Tessera’s growing pipeline and builds upon the company’s recent progress in in vivo genome engineering programs targeting the liver, hematopoietic stem cells, and T cells.