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Meet The Young Scientist Who’s Using AI To Rewrite The Story Of The Kidney Disease
What if there is a chance to cure the dangerous kidney disease and not just be treated? That’s exactly what DEMETRI MAXIM, a trained scientist from Stanford University and the founder of a preclinical biotech company called NEPHROGEN. The Biotech world is excited because this startup company has undertaken the stage at Techcrunch Disrupt 2025 in order to introduce a new technology which can literally change the future of kidney disease treatment.
The Story Behind Nephrogen: a Biotech Startup Determined to Defeat Kidney Disease.
For everyone in the world, this is science and innovation, but for Maxim, it’s personal, especially in his fight against kidney disease.
When Maxim was just 7 years old, he found that his mother was diagnosed with kidney failure; therefore, she had to get dialysis four times a week and get a transplant. Even after the transplantation, Maxim’s family fight isn’t over yet. Right after it, he found that he had inherited the polycystic kidney disease(PKD), which is a genetic condition that is even affecting millions of people worldwide.
But Maxim decided to go against his destiny and therefore found a purpose in his pain by transforming his diagnosis into an innovation.
During his graduation period at Stanford University, he read a study about nature, which said that PKD can be reversed in mice using CRISPR gene editing. That is the moment Maxim thought if it could work in animals and why not in humans? This thought led him to establish NEPHROGEN in the year 2022, a biotech startup company that can redefine the way gene therapies are being delivered in today’s world.
Now, the company is using artificial intelligence and advanced biological screening methods to create a specialised delivery system which is designed to deliver gene-edited drugs directly into the damaged kidney cells affected by kidney disease.
Maxim clearly stated that his company’s new delivery mechanism is 100 times more efficient than the current FDA-approved drugs. This is not just any innovation. It’s a revolution in motion.
The Mission for a Cure
Currently, PKD and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) are affecting about 1 out of 7 persons in America, and there is no cure for it. The drugs that are currently marketed are only slowing down the disease too with the worst side effects sometimes, and there is a chance that Nephrogen’s new gene-edited delivery system can change that problem permanently.
Maxim is also planning to join the first clinical trials by himself, which is expected to begin in the year 2027.
Maxim shared, “I’m tired of living with a disease that doesn’t have a cure; if nephrogenic therapy works, it can cure me and millions like me”.
The Future of Precision Medicine
At present, Nephrogen is in the process of securing 4 Million dollars of seed funding to bring its next-generation kidney therapy closer to clinical studies. Investors and biotech professionals are watching closely as if this works out, then it will have the potential to reshape the future of precision medicine.
Maxim’s story isn’t just about science. It’s about giving hope to millions of victims suffering from kidney disease their whole lives.
