Synteny Announces Drug Development Collaboration with Leading Global Cancer Center to Advance Next-Generation TCR-Based Therapeutics
New York, NY and London, UK—Synteny (synteny.ai) today announced a drug development collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to jointly design and advance next-generation T cell receptor (TCR)–based therapeutics addressing both oncology and immune-mediated diseases.
The collaboration will combine MSK’s expertise in target discovery, translational immunology, and clinical development with Synteny’s AI-enabled protein engineering platform and lab-in-the-loop discovery systems. Together, the organizations will pursue two initial programs aimed at generating clinically and commercially meaningful therapeutic candidates.
The first program will focus on oncology, where the partners will design affinity-optimised TCR T-cell engagers targeting intracellular tumor antigens presented as peptide–HLA complexes (pHLA). These engineered molecules are designed to redirect T cells toward tumor cells presenting disease-specific intracellular peptides, expanding the therapeutic target space beyond cell-surface antigens.
The second program will focus on immunology, where the collaboration will engineer high-affinity pHLA molecules capable of selectively targeting and depleting disease-associated T-cell clonotypes. By engaging clusters of TCRs associated with pathogenic immune responses, these agents aim to enable highly selective modulation of disease-driving T-cell populations while preserving broader immune function.
Within the collaboration, MSK will contribute validated pHLA targets, immunopeptidomic and functional data, and translational expertise in oncology and immune biology. Synteny will apply its frontier AI and experimental platforms to generate and optimize high-affinity TCR and pHLA molecules through large-scale library generation, affinity maturation, and functional screening.
Lead candidates emerging from the collaboration will undergo joint characterization including affinity measurement, cytotoxic potency evaluation, specificity profiling, and in vivo activity assessment, with the objective of generating preclinical drug candidate packages suitable for partnership or advancement toward clinical development.
“The ability to develop programmable protein therapeutics is key to precision targeting strategies in oncology and immune reset strategies in immunology,” said Lilly Wollman, Co-founder & CEO of Synteny. “Collaborating with MSK allows us to apply this technology to clinically validated targets with the potential to translate rapidly into impactful therapies.”
“Targeting intracellular antigens through TCR-guided bispecific therapeutics represents one of the most promising frontiers in immunotherapy,” said David Scheinberg, MD, PhD, investigator at MSK. “By bringing together MSK’s deep expertise in tumor immunology and translational medicine with Synteny’s powerful computational and experimental protein engineering platform, we aim to accelerate the development of novel therapies with meaningful clinical impact.” Dr. Scheinberg’s collaborators on this project will include Karuna Ganesh MD, PhD, Associate Attending Physician, and cellular therapist Jaeyop (Josh) Lee, MD, PhD, both at MSK.
The overall collaboration will be overseen by a joint scientific committee composed of representatives from both organizations. Each party will contribute its respective capabilities and resources toward the development of therapeutic candidates.
The collaborating institutions intend to pursue rapid commercialization of successful candidates, including joint progression toward investigational new drug (IND)–enabling studies.
Synteny is a frontier AI company training foundation models of biological systems to enable scientific discovery. By integrating machine learning with large-scale experimental platforms, Synteny develops closed-loop AI systems capable of learning biological principles and guiding experimentation toward defined objectives. The company’s mission is to unlock programmable protein therapeutics, with a focus on TCR and HLA-directed therapeutics across oncology and autoimmunity, through self-learning, foundation-scale modelling of adaptive immunity.
MSK has financial interests in Synteny.