Biotech Nephrogen combines AI with gene therapy to reverse kidney disease – check it out at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

When Dmitry Maxim was seven years old, his mother’s kidneys stopped working. She was put on dialysis, which meant she had to go to hospital four times a week to have her blood filtered by a machine because her 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 live a relatively normal life, it was not the end of his family’s struggle with kidney disease. It turns out that Maxim inherited the disease polycystic kidney disease (PKD) from her.

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

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

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

To solve this critical challenge, he founded Nephrogen in 2022, a biotechnology startup that uses artificial intelligence and advanced screening to develop a specialized delivery system to safely deliver gene-editing drugs to specific cells in the kidney. Nephrogen is one of 20 finalists in the Startup Battlefield competition, part of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

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

Nephrogen’s next major step is to advance the new delivery mechanism, along with the drug developed by the startup, into clinical studies, which Maxim expects to 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 have severe back pain. You have to go to the hospital a lot. You’re taking this medication that’s supposed to slow the progression of the disease, but it doesn’t really do anything. It just makes you pee all the time,” he said, adding that there was always a risk that his disease would progress to require dialysis.

This makes Nephrogen’s approach even more important, as if it works it could cure PKD altogether.

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