Daniela Teplitzki

Food is essential to keep us healthy and strong. For this reason, the food industry has a major influence on the health of the population. An unhealthy diet based on ultra-processed products can detract from the quality and quantity of life, while a healthy diet based on fresh foods can protect us from disease. But healthy foods are more expensive per calorie ingested than less healthy ones. Aware of the importance of what we eat, Argentine Daniela Teplitzki, a lawyer from Torcuato Di Tella University, decided to innovate to improve people's lives.

Her response was to create, together with Argentine scientists, the biotech start-up Kresko RNAtech. It is the first company in the world to identify bioactive ribonucleic acids (RNA) present in food and offer them to consumers in the form of a food supplement. These molecules facilitate protein synthesis, she explains. Thanks to the isolation of these substances, the young Argentinean has succeeded in creating a new class of supplements that includes nutritional elements that degrade rapidly in fresh food. Thanks to this proposal, Teplitzki has become one of MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2023 in Spanish.

The first product developed by Kresko RNAtech is RiboLATTE, a supplement based on the regulatory RNA present in breast milk that combats sleeplessness and is a natural substitute for melatonin. "It uses nucleic acids from cow's milk, which are the same in breast milk, and can increase serotonin, reduce stress responses, and has positive effects on gut health," explains the entrepreneur.

The platform is working on identifying more bioactive RNAs in natural sources to make more supplements. In this way, details Teplitzki, Kresko, RNAtech seeks to "improve people's quality of life through functional nutrition." "We are the first to explore the full potential of RNAs from fresh food," adds Teplitzki.

This product is currently in the process of being brought to market to help improve people's well-being. In the future, Teplitzki hopes to scale the platform and partner with other companies and key players to tackle stress-related health problems.