# The science of delivering cures straight to your cells | Eric Kelsic Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyhqkZEJ_60 Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/CyhqkZEJ_60 Generated: 2025-12-01T14:36:32.169+00:00 --- ## Quick Overview Eric Kelsic, CEO and co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, discusses how they leverage directed evolution and AI to engineer Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) capsids, the protein shells used as delivery vehicles in gene therapy, with the goal of significantly reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency and safety of these potentially curative treatments for rare genetic diseases. **Key Points:** - Eric Kelsic, CEO and co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, has been working for 10 years to solve the grand challenge of gene therapy delivery. - The core technology involves engineering AAV capsids, which naturally evolved to infect cells, to direct therapeutic payloads to specific cell types, such as neurons in the brain, which is otherwise hard to reach. - Dyno uses Directed Evolution, similar to the process that drove cost reductions in solar PV (Wright's Law), to rapidly test millions of capsid sequences to find optimal variants. - The company has generated 1 PB of DNA sequencing data from experiments testing millions of capsid variants, using AI models to analyze this data and guide the next round of evolution. - Gene therapies like Zolgensma (for SMA) are extremely expensive, costing millions, and the goal of Dyno's technology is to reduce this cost to make treatments more accessible. - The process involves high-throughput screening of engineered capsids to find variants that are more effective and safer for specific organs or cell types. ![Screenshot at 00:24: The screen displays historical context, showing the cover of the March 3, 1972, issue of SCIENCE magazine featuring the landmark paper, "Gene Therapy for Human Genetic Disease?", setting the stage for the decades-long challenge Kelsic's company aims to solve.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-00-24.png) **Context:** Eric Kelsic is the CEO and co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, a company focused on advancing gene therapy by engineering better delivery vehicles using their proprietary technology. The video frames the discussion around the immense challenge of delivering therapeutic genetic material precisely to the correct cells within the human body, contrasting the high costs and limitations of current treatments with the potential of AI-driven directed evolution. ## Detailed Analysis Eric Kelsic, CEO and co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, explains that the fundamental challenge in gene therapy is delivery—getting the therapeutic DNA payload into the correct cells for a lifetime of function. He highlights that while many genetic diseases are known (like SMA, which was fatal in infants before treatments like Zolgensma), current AAV delivery systems are not efficient or targeted enough for systemic treatment, often only reaching a small fraction of target cells (e.g., 0.1% of neurons in the brain). Dyno Therapeutics addresses this by applying Directed Evolution, similar to Wright's Law observed in the drastic cost reduction of solar PV over decades. They engineer the AAV capsid—the virus's protein shell—to optimize its targeting capabilities. This involves generating vast libraries of capsid sequences (1 PB of data mentioned) and using AI models to analyze the resulting functional data to iteratively design better variants. Kelsic notes that while existing FDA-approved AAV therapies like Zolgensma cost millions and target specific diseases, the goal is to create highly efficient delivery vehicles that can be customized for any tissue or organ, ultimately driving down the cost and broadening the applicability of gene therapy. ### The Challenge of Gene Therapy Delivery - Humans fundamentally want life full of good experiences, but genetic diseases cut that short; bodies are genetic machines that break down; gene therapy aims to fix this by delivering DNA into cells for a lifetime of function, but delivery is the main hurdle - AAV capsids are used as delivery vehicles, but natural capsids evolved for different things and are often inefficient for specific therapeutic targets. ### Directed Evolution & AI - Dyno uses Directed Evolution, where they test millions of capsid variants to find better ones; this process is analogous to Wright's Law in solar PV, where production volume drives cost reduction; they analyze 1 PB of DNA sequencing data using AI models to guide the iterative design process. ### Cost and Accessibility - Current single-dose gene therapies like Zolgensma cost millions (e.g., $1.9M to $3.8M); the goal is to reduce this cost, possibly down to thousands of dollars, to make cures for rare diseases accessible to more patients. ### Future Vision - The goal is to create a genetic agent that can be programmed to deliver therapeutics specifically to target cells (like neurons in the brain) and to create better, more efficient delivery mechanisms that can be used for many different diseases, not just the few currently treated. ![Screenshot at 00:01: Eric Kelsic, co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, introducing the topic of genetic diseases and the desire for a life full of good experiences.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-00-01.png) ![Screenshot at 00:24: Visual representation of the 1972 Science paper that first proposed gene therapy for human genetic disease, highlighting the historical context of the field.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-00-24.png) ![Screenshot at 01:16: Eric Kelsic's introduction, identifying him as Eric Kelsic, CEO and co-founder of Dyno Therapeutics, who has worked for 10 years on gene therapy delivery.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-01-16.png) ![Screenshot at 02:08: Graphic illustrating the small size of the AAV \(26 nm\) compared to other viruses like Hepatitis B \(42 nm\) and SARS-CoV-2 \(100 nm\), emphasizing its suitability as a delivery vehicle.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-02-08.png) ![Screenshot at 04:48: A montage of happy family moments contrasts with the severe nature of the genetic diseases being discussed, underscoring the human impact of gene therapy.](https://ss.rapidrecap.app/screens/CyhqkZEJ_60/00-04-48.png)