Engineering treatments towards better brain health

BC based biotech startup leverages mRNA technology to treat neurological conditions 

The challenge: Navigating the “discovery-to-clinic” journey

CereCura Nanotherapeutics is an early-stage biotech startup developing therapies for diseases of the brain, an area of medicine known for long drug development timelines, high costs, and scientific complexity. Like most biotech companies, CereCura is pre-revenue, operating in a sector where it typically takes 10–15 years to move from discovery to clinical application. 

In today’s difficult funding environment, the biggest risk is not a lack of ideas, but the ability to sustain research long enough to translate those ideas into viable therapies. For a small team, maintaining scientific momentum while repeatedly raising capital makes capital efficiency critical. 

The solution: Leveraging partnerships to stay focused on the science

A reduced funding match requirement provided through a partnership between Mitacs and Michael Smith Health Research BC allows CereCura to significantly expand its research capacity, effectively doubling the number of interns it can support.   

According to Nicolas Weilinger, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of CereCura, the reputation of both Mitacs and Health Research BC programs also provides external validation — strengthening CereCura’s credibility with investors, partners, and other stakeholders.  

The access to top-tier talent allows the CereCura team to stay focused on advancing science and research. 

Talent in action: Advancing RNA therapeutics through collaboration

One of the researchers supported through this partnership is Dr. Daniel Andrews, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the MacVicar Lab at the University of British Columbia and currently Mitacs Accelerate intern with CereCura.  

His specific research in engineering and testing next-generation mRNA therapeutics is central to CereCura’s platform, which applies lipid nanoparticle technology to treat neurological conditions like Gaucher and Parkinson’s disease. 

Thanks to this collaborative effort, the team at CereCura has been able to move rapidly toward preclinical safety studies, a necessary step before clinical trials. Through this collaboration with UBC’s Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, CereCura has gained access to advanced imaging infrastructure and disease models that keep the team on track for their seven-to-ten-year horizon for a marketable therapy. 

This momentum continues through the Mitacs model, which fosters a mutually beneficial ecosystem: giving interns hands-on research and career growth, enabling post-secondary institutions to make meaningful research contributions, and allowing companies like CereCura to pursue R&D projects that might otherwise be too difficult or costly. 

Quotes

“This Mitacs and Health Research BC partnership has allowed us to leverage funding from investors to support talented postdoctoral-level scientists in conducting this important research. Programs like Mitacs Accelerate allow our interns to gain experience in an academic research environment, opening doors for experiments that would otherwise be prohibitively costly or inaccessible.” 

Nicholas Weilinger, CSO and Co-Founder, CereCura  

“[Mitacs] has been a very positive intro into the industry world, solidifying my desire to stay in biotech and keep translating research to real-world solutions. I can have very intimate discussions on a day-to-day basis with the higher-up leadership in the company and that makes me feel like I’m having a significant, direct impact on the company’s success.” 

 Dr. Daniel Andrews, Mitacs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellow 

Mitacs’s programs receive funding from multiple partners across Canada. We thank the Government of Canada, the Government of Alberta, the Government of British Columbia, Research Manitoba, the Government of New Brunswick, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Government of Nova Scotia, the Government of Ontario, Innovation PEI, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Saskatchewan, and the Government of Yukon for supporting us to empower Canadian innovation. 

Do you have a business challenge that could benefit from a research solution? If so, contact Mitacs today to discuss partnership opportunities: [email protected].