Colton Center for RNA Exploration in Autoimmune Therapeutics (CREATE)

Three new categories of mRNA therapy for autoimmune disease.

CREATE is pioneering adjuvant-free LNP therapeutics, pathogenic effector cell modification, and regulatory T cell immunomodulation — three mRNA-based treatment categories never tested in humans — with Phase I trials targeted by Year 2 and a GMP facility coming online within 18 months.

• Introduces three entirely novel mRNA-based therapeutic modalities for autoimmune disease, complementing CAR T approaches with non-cell therapy platforms that could fundamentally transform how autoimmune conditions are treated at the cellular level
• Generates substantial IP opportunities through novel in vivo mRNA therapeutic platforms, with active industry discussions with BioNTech, Orbital Therapeutics, and Zipcode Bio, and a Penn GMP facility creating multiple pathways for licensing, spin-out, and commercialization
• Advances the Consortium’s From Mechanistic Insight to Translation pillar by building an integrated bench-to-bedside mRNA therapeutic pipeline — from construct development through GMP manufacturing, regulatory framework establishment, and Phase I/II clinical trials — across multiple severe autoimmune diseases