Lucas Leite Cunha

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Pluspetrol and reflects their views, opinions, and insights. Process safety depends on everyday decisions about investments, facility integrity, operational changes, and startup readiness. Making those decisions responsibly requires technical knowledge, committed leadership, and teams that feel confident raising concerns.

Gene editing and RNA technologies are opening new possibilities for treating disease. Recent advances, including the first personalized CRISPR gene therapy and increasingly sophisticated RNA-based medicines, demonstrate how quickly the field is progressing. But as these technologies move closer to patients, another challenge is becoming more pressing: turning promising science into medicines that can be delivered, manufactured, and used safely.

In 2024, I and my research group (affectionately known as ThinkTank Cafezinho) at Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil set out to answer a deceptively simple question: What is the burden of oncologic emergencies in Brazil? It seemed like the kind of question that should have been answered years ago.