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Biotech Nephrogen combines AI and gene therapy to reverse kidney disease — check it out at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 | TechCrunch

Biotech Nephrogen combines AI and gene therapy to reverse kidney disease — check it out at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 | TechCrunch

When Demetri Maxim was seven years old, his mother’s kidneys stopped working. She was put on dialysis, which meant that she had to go to the hospital four times a week to have her blood filtered by a machine since her own kidneys could no longer function independently.

Two years later, Maxim’s mother received a kidney transplant. Although the surgery was successful and allowed her to lead a relatively normal life, it wasn’t the end of his family’s struggle with kidney disease. It turned out that Maxim had inherited the disease, Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), from her.

About one in seven Americans has Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), and about 10% of those CKD cases are due to a genetic condition. Maxim has been obsessed with finding a cure for himself and others ever since he was in high school.

Maxim’s “Aha!” moment occurred in 2021, when Nature Magazine published a study proving that PKD is reversible in mice using CRISPR technology. At the time, he was pursuing his graduate degree in computational biology at Stanford while simultaneously engaging in kidney research under his professor, Vivek Bhalla.

Although Maxim was convinced that gene therapy could reverse PKD, the biggest hurdle was creating a mechanism to deliver the drugs directly to the diseased cells.

To solve this critical challenge, he founded Nephrogen in 2022, a biotech startup that uses AI and advanced screening to develop a specialized delivery system for safely getting gene-editing medicines into the exact cells in the kidney. Nephrogen is one of the 20 finalists in Startup Battlefield, part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

After three years of development, Maxim claims Nephrogen has succeeded in creating a delivery mechanism that is 100 times more efficient at transporting medicine to the kidney than the “vehicles” currently approved by the FDA.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco
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October 27-29, 2025

The next major step for Nephrogen is to advance its novel delivery mechanism, along with a drug the startup developed, into clinical studies, which Maxim anticipates will begin in 2027. To support this, the company is raising a $4 million seed round.

Maxim intends to participate in the clinical study himself, given the significant challenges he faces living with PKD.

“You get a lot of back pain. You have to go to the hospital a lot. You are on this drug that’s supposed to slow the progression, but it doesn’t really do anything. Just makes you pee all the time,” he said, adding that there is always a risk that his disease will progress to require dialysis.

This makes Nephrogen’s approach all the more critical, as its success could cure him of PKD entirely.

If you want to hear from Nephrogen firsthand, and see dozens of additional pitches, attend valuable workshops, and make the connections that drive business results, head here to learn more about this year’s Disrupt, held October 27 to 29 in San Francisco. 

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#Biotech #Nephrogen #combines #gene #therapy #reverse #kidney #disease #check #TechCrunch #Disrupt #TechCrunch

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once famously said a touchscreen MacBook was never going to happen, but that was a long time ago, and things are changing.

A leaker known as Instant Digital, known for some eerily accurate Apple-related predictions, seemed certain about it in a recent Weibo post (via MacRumors).

“It’s 100% confirmed that the MacBook screen will be touch-enabled,” he wrote.

The leaker did not add any other details, so we don’t know which version of the MacBook is getting the touchscreen, nor when this is supposed to happen. But the post builds on previous reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, with both previously stating that Apple is working on a touchscreen variant of the MacBook.

Rumors about such a device have circulated for years, though, and nothing ever came to fruition. Gurman’s report dates February 2026, and back then he said the initial batch of touch-enabled Macs are coming “this fall.” Gurman said the company would be pretty lax about the touchscreen, allowing the users to use it as much or as little they’d like, instead of positioning the Mac as a better version of the iPad.

Apple is also rumored to launch a high-end “MacBook Ultra” later this year; this top-of-the-line device should come with Apple’s most powerful chips, an OLED display, and it might be the first one to be touch-enabled.

#Apples #touchscreen #MacBook #happening #report #claims">Apple’s touchscreen MacBook is definitely happening, report claims
                                                            Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once famously said a touchscreen MacBook was never going to happen, but that was a long time ago, and things are changing. A leaker known as Instant Digital, known for some eerily accurate Apple-related predictions, seemed certain about it in a recent Weibo post (via MacRumors). “It’s 100% confirmed that the MacBook screen will be touch-enabled,” he wrote. 
        
            Mashable Light Speed
        
        
    

The leaker did not add any other details, so we don’t know which version of the MacBook is getting the touchscreen, nor when this is supposed to happen. But the post builds on previous reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, with both previously stating that Apple is working on a touchscreen variant of the MacBook. Rumors about such a device have circulated for years, though, and nothing ever came to fruition. Gurman’s report dates February 2026, and back then he said the initial batch of touch-enabled Macs are coming “this fall.” Gurman said the company would be pretty lax about the touchscreen, allowing the users to use it as much or as little they’d like, instead of positioning the Mac as a better version of the iPad. 

        SEE ALSO:
        
            Apple’s WWDC 2026 recap: What did Apple announce?
            
        
    
Apple is also rumored to launch a high-end “MacBook Ultra” later this year; this top-of-the-line device should come with Apple’s most powerful chips, an OLED display, and it might be the first one to be touch-enabled.

                    
                                            
                            
                        
                                    #Apples #touchscreen #MacBook #happening #report #claims

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once famously said a touchscreen MacBook was never going to happen, but that was a long time ago, and things are changing.

A leaker known as Instant Digital, known for some eerily accurate Apple-related predictions, seemed certain about it in a recent Weibo post (via MacRumors).

“It’s 100% confirmed that the MacBook screen will be touch-enabled,” he wrote.

The leaker did not add any other details, so we don’t know which version of the MacBook is getting the touchscreen, nor when this is supposed to happen. But the post builds on previous reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, with both previously stating that Apple is working on a touchscreen variant of the MacBook.

Rumors about such a device have circulated for years, though, and nothing ever came to fruition. Gurman’s report dates February 2026, and back then he said the initial batch of touch-enabled Macs are coming “this fall.” Gurman said the company would be pretty lax about the touchscreen, allowing the users to use it as much or as little they’d like, instead of positioning the Mac as a better version of the iPad.

Apple is also rumored to launch a high-end “MacBook Ultra” later this year; this top-of-the-line device should come with Apple’s most powerful chips, an OLED display, and it might be the first one to be touch-enabled.

#Apples #touchscreen #MacBook #happening #report #claims">Apple’s touchscreen MacBook is definitely happening, report claims

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once famously said a touchscreen MacBook was never going to happen, but that was a long time ago, and things are changing.

A leaker known as Instant Digital, known for some eerily accurate Apple-related predictions, seemed certain about it in a recent Weibo post (via MacRumors).

“It’s 100% confirmed that the MacBook screen will be touch-enabled,” he wrote.

The leaker did not add any other details, so we don’t know which version of the MacBook is getting the touchscreen, nor when this is supposed to happen. But the post builds on previous reports from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, with both previously stating that Apple is working on a touchscreen variant of the MacBook.

Rumors about such a device have circulated for years, though, and nothing ever came to fruition. Gurman’s report dates February 2026, and back then he said the initial batch of touch-enabled Macs are coming “this fall.” Gurman said the company would be pretty lax about the touchscreen, allowing the users to use it as much or as little they’d like, instead of positioning the Mac as a better version of the iPad.

Apple is also rumored to launch a high-end “MacBook Ultra” later this year; this top-of-the-line device should come with Apple’s most powerful chips, an OLED display, and it might be the first one to be touch-enabled.

#Apples #touchscreen #MacBook #happening #report #claims

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