Kernal Bio Joins Lilly Gateway Labs to Advance AI-Driven In Vivo Cell Therapies
Key Insights
Kernal Biologics (search) has relocated to Lilly Gateway Labs in Boston, gaining access to Eli Lilly's scientific expertise and resources while maintaining strategic independence.
The company recently unveiled kernaLM™, a proprietary large language model for mRNA (search) design that significantly outperforms current state-of-the-art models.
Kernal Bio was accepted into NVIDIA (search)'s Inception program, providing access to advanced computational infrastructure to scale their AI-driven therapeutic solutions.
Kernal Biologics (search), a venture-backed therapeutics company developing novel therapeutics to program human cells directly inside the body, announced its relocation to Lilly Gateway Labs (LGL) in Boston on October 3, 2025. The move positions the company within Eli Lilly and Company's innovation ecosystem while advancing its pipeline of AI-driven in vivo cell therapies.
Strategic Partnership with Pharmaceutical Giant
Located within Eli Lilly's Seaport Innovation Center, Lilly Gateway Labs serves as a shared innovation accelerator that supports promising early-stage biotechnology companies. The program provides cutting-edge laboratory space, tailored scientific engagement, and strategic guidance through direct access to Lilly scientists, researchers, and executives. Companies selected for LGL benefit from shared resources, operational support, and access to Lilly's global network of experts while retaining strategic independence.
"We are honored to join this vibrant innovation hub and advance our therapeutic programs in such a collaborative environment," said Yusuf Erkul, MD, MBA, Co-Founder and CEO of Kernal Bio. "The Gateway Labs model offers tailored support for companies at our stage, allowing us to stay focused on our scientific mission while benefiting from Lilly's deep expertise."
Breakthrough AI Technology for mRNA Design
Kernal Bio recently unveiled its proprietary large language model for mRNA (search) design, kernaLM™, at the 2nd Annual Computational RNA Design & Delivery Summit. According to the company, the model significantly outperforms current state-of-the-art models in mRNA therapeutic design. This technological advancement represents a significant milestone in the company's AI-driven approach to cell therapy development.
Following this breakthrough, Kernal Bio was accepted into NVIDIA (search)'s Inception program, gaining access to advanced tools and computational infrastructure necessary for scaling AI-driven solutions. "Support from NVIDIA and Lilly will help us scale our AI-driven solutions and accelerate our pipeline of transformative therapies," said Burak Yilmaz, MS, Co-founder and President of Kernal Bio.
Innovative mRNA2.0 Platform Technology
The company's proprietary mRNA2.0 platform synergistically exploits targeted lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery and cell-selective translation of synthetic mRNA (search). This approach controls the amount and site of protein production without requiring genetic editing or risking genomic integration. The platform's decorated lipid nanoparticle technology enables in situ cell engineering via systemic, targeted, extra-hepatic delivery to specific tissues and cells, including T cells (search).
The delivery capability, combined with cell-selective mRNA (search) translation, eliminates off-target effects. This expertise is powered by Kernal Bio's proprietary machine learning platform that discovers RNA sequence motifs from clinical human data with preferential translation based on cell type.
Therapeutic Focus and Leadership
Kernal Bio is developing in vivo CAR-T (search) therapies targeting autoimmune diseases (search) and blood cancers (search). The company was founded by experts from MIT, Harvard, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb, with a leadership team that brings a track record of three FDA-approved therapies and over 120 patents.
The company has secured support from leading investors including Hummingbird Ventures, Amgen Ventures (search), HBM, FoundersX, Gaingels, and Y Combinator, positioning it to transform the future of cell therapy design and delivery through its innovative approach to programming human cells directly inside the body.