Bio Design Lab

Overview

Updated: Sep 4, 2026

Company Overview

Next-generation viral vector platforms for safer and more efficient cell and gene therapies

Address

Headquarters :87, Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea

Research Center :2F, 7, Che9ngpa-ro 47 gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, ROK

Website

https://biodesignlab.net/

Class

Biotechnology

Type

Virus, Drug Delivery

Indications

Hematology, Immunology, Musculoskeletal, Etc.

Partnering Goals

Private

Investment Info

Investment History

Total USD 10M 200K

2020
Seed
0.2M
Investor Amount
POSTECH Holdings 0.2M
2020-12
Series A
3.5M
2024-09
Series B
4.8M
2026-01
Series B
1.7M

Investor	Amount
POSTECH Holdings	0.2M

Team

Key People

Co-Founder & CEO

Hyun-Jin Choi, Ph.D.

Former) CTO, HEBE (Customized Genetic Analysis, ROK) Former) Technical Staff, LVIS Corp (Brain Disease Diagnosis, USA) Former) Lead Head, Samsung Electronics

Co-Founder & CTO

Kwang-il Lim, Ph.D.

25+ years of academic and research experience in viral vector technologies, including UC Berkeley and Sookmyung Women’s University

COO & Co-Founder

Hawon Chung

26+ years of experience in sales and business operations

CBO

JungHwa Kim

20+ years of tech transfer and licensing including Intellectual Ventures, KPIC and ToolGen

Advisors

Private

Tech & Products

Technology Details

Enhanced Safety & Efficiency

Through optimized integration profiles using DNA-binding protein domain insertion into integrase, these platforms reduce integration propensity into regulatory and gene body regions. Internal data demonstrates approximately 5-10 times higher functional vector performance with up to 10-fold higher transduction efficiency compared to conventional vectors. This enables improved delivery efficiency, reduced dosing, enhanced safety, and better cost economics.

Modular & Customizable Architecture

The platforms employ modular vector components and systems-level design, enabling optimization for diverse therapeutic applications. Configurations can be tailored for specific target cells, therapeutic cargo, expression requirements, and development objectives. The flexible architecture supports optimization across research, preclinical, and potential clinical use cases.

Scalable & Partner-Ready

Designed for compatibility with existing development and manufacturing workflows, enabling seamless integration into partner therapeutic programs and GMP-compliant production scaling.

Dual Configuration Strategy

Non-integrating — Reduce genomic insertion frequency to 1/1000th levels compared to wild-type vectors while maintaining up to 80% expression levels, enabling repeated dosing with minimal immune burden. Suitable for in vivo gene delivery, vaccines, and immune cell reprogramming. Safe integrating versions — Reduce integration preference around gene regulatory regions and gene bodies, designed for long-term expression applications in cell therapies and ex vivo cell engineering (CAR-T/CAR-NK).

Problem & Unmet Needs

Integration Safety Challenges

Existing retroviral and lentiviral vector technologies present significant challenges in cell and gene therapy development. These vectors show propensity to integrate into genomic regions that regulate endogenous gene expression or function as genes themselves, increasing the risk of cellular transformation and oncogenic effects.

Limited Transduction Efficiency

Additionally, conventional vectors demonstrate limited gene delivery efficiency for certain cell types, particularly challenging for immune cell engineering, thereby constraining the range of targetable diseases and driving up production costs of therapeutics. These limitations directly impact the feasibility and safety of advanced therapeutic programs.

Market Trends

Market Scale and Growth

The global gene therapy market was valued at approximately $9.3 billion in 2024, with immunotherapy markets reaching approximately $43.6 billion. Within this landscape, lentiviral vector-based therapeutics represent a meaningful segment.

Vector Performance as Critical Success Factor

Vector performance itself is a critical success factor for lentiviral vector-based therapeutics. There is substantial unmet demand for safer, more efficient, and customizable viral vector platforms that can improve transduction efficiency, integration profiles, and therapeutic outcomes. These market needs drive demand for next-generation vector technologies that address both safety and manufacturing complexity challenges.

Competitive Landscape

Import Dependency and Limited Customization

The viral vector market currently relies heavily on imports and is dominated by established platforms with limited customization capabilities.

Bio Design Lab Differentiation

Bio Design Lab's modular, engineered approach demonstrates reduced integration into higher-risk genomic regions and 5-10 times higher functional vector performance compared to conventional vectors. The platform achieves up to 10-fold higher transduction efficiency, particularly excelling in challenging immune cell engineering where conventional vectors show limited performance. This superior performance enables reduced dosing requirements, improved safety profiles, and enhanced cost economics.

Pipeline

RetroNext®

Current Stage

Developed / Validation

Patents & Papers

Papers

Paper Title

Shifting Retroviral Vector Integrations Away from Transcriptional Start Sites via DNA-Binding Protein Domain Insertion into Integrase (2019)

Journal

Molecular Therapy

Published Year

Private

PMID

Private

Impact Factor

4.7

Patents

Patent Title

Method for Constructing a Safe Retroviral Vector by Insertion of a Histone or Leucine Zipper into Integrase

Status

등록

Application Year

Private

Application Countries

KR

Patent Title

Engineered Retrovirus Vectors

Status

Filed

Application Year

Private

Application Countries

KR

Patent Title

Engineered Lentiviral Vectors

Status

Filed

Application Year

Private

Application Countries

KR

Latest News

Private

Overview

Company Overview

Bio Design Lab

Investment Info

Investment History

Team

Key People

Advisors

Tech & Products

RetroNext® & LentiNext® — Next-Generation Viral Vector Platforms

Technology Details

Enhanced Safety & Efficiency

Modular & Customizable Architecture

Scalable & Partner-Ready

Dual Configuration Strategy

Problem & Unmet Needs

Integration Safety Challenges

Limited Transduction Efficiency

Market Trends

Market Scale and Growth

Vector Performance as Critical Success Factor

Competitive Landscape

Import Dependency and Limited Customization

Bio Design Lab Differentiation

Non-Integrating Vector Platform

Targeted/In Vivo Vector Platform

Pipeline

Patents & Papers

Papers

Patents

Latest News