18.05.2026 11:00 Rita Longobardi
Meet Özgür Genç, CEO of Translation-X. The biotech company is developing drug-based therapies that target how brain cells communicate in autism spectrum disorders. Özgür and the other nine Swiss National Biotech Team members will travel to Boston in June.
Name: Özgür Genç
Location: Basel
Nationality: Turkish
Graduated: EPFL (PhD)
Prior role: Postdoc
Founding team members: Peter Scheiffele, Özgür Genç, Guido Koch
Number of employees: 3 co-founders
Money raised: CHF 1M (non-dilutive grants and dilutive funds)
What does your product or solution do, and what makes it unique?
Our product is a first-in-class MNK inhibitor designed to address the core symptoms of subforms of autism spectrum disorders. The treatment is tailored to a defined population with a well-characterized pathological signature that is responsive to MNK inhibition.
What trend or shift in your industry is currently creating the biggest opportunity for you?
I think of it like oncology about 20 years ago, when treatment began to shift from broad categories to targeting specific molecular causes. This move to precision medicine changed everything. The same shift is now happening in autism. We can finally look beyond behavior and identify what's actually going wrong at the molecular level, opening the door to treatments that target the root cause rather than just managing symptoms. And the need is real: despite high diagnosis rates (1 in 32), not a single approved therapy exists that addresses the core biology of autism.
How did the idea for your startup originate?
Our lab had spent years studying the molecular basis of autism, and over time, one mechanism kept showing up across different models and experimental approaches. Once we had strong proof-of-concept that it was a real, druggable target, starting a company felt like the obvious next step. My co-founder, Peter Scheiffele (professor in neuroscience), had the idea to found the company, reached out to me while I was in San Francisco, and asked if I'd take the lead. It was a great project, so I said yes, and that's how it started.
Which market are you addressing, and what potential do you see for your startup in that market?
We start with rare, genetically defined autism conditions, Tuberous Sclerosis and Phelan-McDermid Syndrome, where current treatments are either ineffective or simply don't exist. These give us a solid foundation and faster regulatory pathways to validate our approach before expanding into a much larger opportunity: idiopathic autism, where the same biological mechanism is estimated to affect up to 20% of all cases. That's where the real market scale is.
What impact do you want your technology to have five years from now?
In five years, Translation-X wants to have shown in humans that a precision, mechanism-based approach can actually work in autism-related conditions, something the field has never achieved. That means clinical proof-of-concept for our MNK-targeting therapy, validating the biology and opening the door to broader patient populations. If we get there, we will have established mRNA translational control as a real therapeutic paradigm in neurodevelopmental disorders.
What major challenges have you faced so far?
Honestly, one of the biggest challenges has been overcoming the skepticism created by years of symptom-based treatment efforts that never addressed the underlying biology of autism disorders. That history left the field with a lot of doubt and caution. It took significant time and effort to make the case that we have a mechanistically distinct approach targeting the right biology, and we feel confident we have succeeded in that.
What motivates you on tough days?
There is no single answer. On hard days, I go back to simple things that help me feel calm. Making music is one of them. But the human factor matters just as much. My brother is a big support for me. He is an economist with a clear way of thinking about venture building and risk management, and his outside perspective always helps me see things differently.
Why did you decide to join the Venture Leaders Roadshow, and what are you most excited about?
I joined the Venture Leaders Roadshow because it is an important stamp for startups and will give us the exposure we need at both national and international levels. I am very excited to see the biotech and venture climate right now in the US, especially with the current political and economic uncertainty, as it will provide a clearer view of the landscape ahead of making critical strategic decisions.
