Torpedo Bio, a Charleston-based biotechnology startup born from the research of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center scientist Leonardo M.R. Ferreira, Ph.D., earned one of the top awards at the first-ever Catalyst by Beemok Live Pitch Competition – securing $250,000 to advance a new approach to treating solid tumors. 

Torpedo Bio’s technology centers on regulatory T cells, or Tregs, which are normally the immune system’s brakes. Tumors exploit those brakes to protect themselves. Ferreira’s lab discovered that, when engineered with high-affinity, cancer-targeting receptors, Tregs can be reprogrammed into powerful cancer-killing agents. In preclinical models, these “Torpedo cells” succeeded where traditional CAR-T cells often fail: They penetrated solid tumors and successfully destroyed them. “We take T cells that used to be cancer’s best friend and turn them into its worst enemy,” Ferreira said.

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS, President Lee Ho Seong) has established Korea’s first national standards for the reliable performance verification of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC)* transmission systems. Based on these newly established standards, KRISS will begin providing calibration and testing services for national power authorities and related industries.