Membrane Translocation Domain (MTD) platform demonstrates a potential solution to one of biotechnology’s most persistent challenges: delivering therapeutic proteins inside cells.

Permeasis Therapeutics (“Permeasis”), a biotechnology company developing intracellular biologics enabled by its proprietary Membrane Translocation Domain (MTD) platform announced the publication of foundational research describing the MTD platform in ACS Chemical Biology. The peer-reviewed study, led by researchers at The Ohio State University and Permeasis, demonstrates the ability of the platform to transport peptides and proteins directly into cells, potentially overcoming one of the most significant barriers in modern drug development.

The inability to efficiently deliver macromolecules into cells has limited the therapeutic potential of biologics for decades. While antibodies have transformed medicine by targeting proteins outside cells, most disease-driving proteins reside inside cells and remain largely inaccessible to conventional biologic therapies. This intracellular delivery challenge has constrained the development of protein therapeutics, enzyme replacement therapies, gene-editing systems, targeted protein degraders, and numerous other emerging therapeutic modalities.

The publication, titled “Intracellular Delivery of Peptides and Proteins with an Engineered Membrane Translocation Domain,” represents the first comprehensive report describing the MTD platform and its application to intracellular protein delivery. It describes the development of a protein delivery platform capable of transporting functional peptides and proteins into the cytosol and nucleus of living cells both in vitro and in vivo. The technology was invented in the laboratory of Dehua Pei, PhD, distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State and co-founder of Permeasis Therapeutics.

“One of the fundamental challenges in biotechnology has been finding a safe and efficient way to deliver biologic medicines inside cells,” said Pei. “Our work demonstrates a potentially generalizable solution that can transport functional proteins across cellular membranes and into the intracellular compartment where most disease biology occurs.”

The study demonstrates that MTD can be genetically fused to a wide range of protein cargos, enabling intracellular delivery while preserving biological function. In preclinical studies, the platform delivered active enzymes, intracellular protein inhibitors and therapeutic proteins into cells and tissues while also exhibiting broad biodistribution following systemic administration in animal models. Importantly, the technology achieved intracellular delivery at low nanomolar concentrations, a level of potency that has historically been difficult to achieve with protein delivery systems.

Permeasis was founded to translate this technology into a new class of intracellular biologic medicines. The company is advancing therapeutic programs based on the MTD platform with the goal of expanding the reach of biologics to previously inaccessible intracellular targets. Researchers from Ohio State and Permeasis collaborated on the studies described in the publication, highlighting the company’s translational model of transforming breakthrough academic science into therapeutic products.

“This publication describes foundational technology from Pei’s laboratory that Permeasis is continuing to mature as we work to develop a new class of therapeutics based on delivering intracellular proteins,” said Lou Tartaglia, PhD, a member of Permeasis Therapeutics’ Board of Directors. “Realizing the full therapeutic potential of biologics will require robust solutions for intracellular delivery, and we believe the MTD platform has the potential to help enable the next generation of protein-based medicines.”

“The ability to deliver proteins inside cells has been a longstanding goal across the biotechnology industry,” said Jeno Gyuris, PhD, chief scientific officer at Permeasis Therapeutics. “What is significant about MTD is its ability to move beyond traditional protein delivery approaches by enabling efficient escape from endosomal trafficking and delivery of functional proteins into the cytosol and nucleus. This expands the potential of protein therapeutics beyond lysosomal storage diseases and supports Permeasis’ broader vision of developing intracellular biologics for diseases that have remained out of reach for conventional therapeutic approaches.”

The study was authored by Prabhat Bhat, PhD, who performed much of the foundational work as a graduate student in Pei’s laboratory and now serves as a consultant to Permeasis Therapeutics. The underlying technology is protected by patent applications filed by Ohio State Innovation Foundation and exclusively licensed to Permeasis Therapeutics.

About Permeasis Therapeutics

Permeasis Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing intracellular biologics enabled by its proprietary Membrane Translocation Domain (MTD) platform. The Company’s technology is designed to transport therapeutic proteins directly into cells, unlocking access to intracellular targets that have historically been inaccessible to conventional biologic medicines.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260702407824/en/

“The ability to deliver proteins inside cells has been a longstanding goal across the biotechnology industry,” said Jeno Gyuris, PhD, chief scientific officer at Permeasis Therapeutics.