Gleipnir Lífsmiðja: A breakthrough in the fight against incurable diseases

Over 80% of disease-causing proteins in the human body are currently considered "undruggable" using conventional drugs. Many of them are drivers of serious and incurable diseases such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Gleipnir Lífsmiðja, a biotech company that took part in the Snjallræði business accelerator in late 2025, has developed technology that could change that.

Conventional drugs try to block the activity of disease proteins. Gleipnir's technology takes a different approach, based on so-called induced proximity therapeutics, such as molecular glues. These force the disease protein into proximity with other proteins, harnessing the cell's own "recycling system" to break it down.

"The problem is that developing these kinds of proximity therapeutics is enormously expensive, slow, and has so far relied considerably on chance. Bringing a new drug to market can cost one to three billion US dollars, which burdens both the healthcare system and patients, and about a third of that process and cost goes into the drug discovery itself and preclinical research," says Guðjón Ólafsson, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Gleipnir Lífsmiðja and a lecturer at the University of Iceland's Faculty of Medicine.

This is where the company's screening platform, SKÍRNIR, comes in. It uses yeast cells as "living test tubes" to systematically screen for induced proximity between any disease protein and thousands of other proteins in living cells. This happens in far less time and at much lower cost than conventional methods allow. "We're essentially mapping the biology before drug manufacturers begin their chemical development, which speeds up how quickly these new, groundbreaking drugs reach the market," Guðjón explains.

From a PhD in London to awards and Snjallræði

The idea traces back to Guðjón's doctoral research under Dr. Peter Thorpe at the Francis Crick Institute in London, where he used yeast cells to study how chromosome segregation is regulated during cell division — a process that can cause cancer in humans when it goes wrong. After 17 years of study and research in London and New York, Guðjón moved back home to Iceland and further developed the method in the lab of Eiríkur Steingrímsson, professor at the University of Iceland's Biomedical Center, with support from a Rannís Postdoctoral Research Fund grant.

The project, then called "ProDiGY," won the University of Iceland's Science and Innovation Award 2025, beating out competition from 36 nominated projects. "Afterwards the project deservedly attracted attention, and we've received invaluable support from the University of Iceland, Auðna Technology Transfer, and the strong innovation environment being built up here in Iceland. We took part in the Snjallræði and KLAK health innovation and business accelerators in late 2025, and that experience was invaluable in getting the project moving quickly," says Guðjón.

Behind Gleipnir, in addition to Guðjón, stand co-founder and CEO Henný Adolfsdóttir, with decades of experience in international business and negotiation, and Birna Björnsdóttir, who heads marketing and sales with experience from the pharmaceutical sector at Pfizer, Teva, and Sidekick. The company's lab, located within the University of Iceland, is staffed by research director Dr. Hieu Tran and Mikael Norðquist, who will complete his master's degree at the University of Iceland in 2027 and leads Iceland's first team in the iGEM synthetic biology competition.

The specialized screening equipment that powers SKÍRNIR, purchased through private investment, is the only one of its kind in the country and is already being used in a University of Iceland PhD project studying a disease protein linked to serious syndromes, leukemia, and autoimmune disease.

"Our vision at Gleipnir Lífsmiðja is simply that incurable diseases will become a thing of the past. Proximity therapeutics and molecular glues will transform the drug treatment landscape, making it more effective, safer, and better for patients," says Guðjón.

Gleipnir's story is yet another example of how ideas given room to grow in Snjallræði can develop into real scientific and societal impact.

The application deadline for the Snjallræði university accelerator is August 27 at 23:59.

Do you have an idea that could become the next Gleipnir Lífsmiðja? Apply here.