Help Pakistan's 1st Startup reach iGEM Startup Showcase 2026 in Paris!

Somewhere in my district, a man in his thirties gives blood for the first time in his life.

A week later, he is told he has hepatitis B.

He feels fine. He has felt fine for twenty years. Nobody in his family knew. He is told he will take a tablet every day for the rest of his life, that it will keep the virus quiet, and that it will not cure him. He is told to come back every six months so they can check his liver.

He asks when he can stop taking it.

The answer is: you can't.

In Pakistan, this conversation happens every day.

Most people carrying hepatitis B don't know they have it. Of those who find out, almost none will ever be cured because until this year, nobody could be. The virus kills around 1.1 million people a year worldwide, it is the leading cause of liver cancer, and Pakistan carries one of the heaviest burdens on earth.

This year, that changed for one person in five.

In 2026, the first treatment to genuinely cure hepatitis B succeeded in its final trials. It is a real breakthrough and I'm glad it exists.

But it cures roughly one in five of the patients who take it. And it works best in people who are already diagnosed, already stable, already being treated the ones who were doing relatively well to begin with.

The four it doesn't reach are people like the man in my district. Diagnosed late. Nothing done for years. No specialist nearby. In countries like mine, they are not the exception. They are most of this disease.

I am working on the four.

My name is Sami Ur Rehman. I'm a final-year biotechnology student from District Attock, and the founder of Vironics AI an early-stage startup designing a new treatment for hepatitis B using artificial intelligence.                We are designing it to work against every strain of the virus including the strain most common in Pakistan and South Asia, which the world's drug companies have studied the least. 

In November, I've been invited to present this in Paris.

Vironics AI has been selected for the Startup Showcase at the 2026 iGEM Grand Jamboree the world's largest synthetic biology event, founded at MIT. Out of iGEM's entire global startup programme, fifteen were chosen. We are one of them, and one of only five in the Health track.

I'll pitch on the main stage in front of an international judging panel, and I'll have my own stand for four days in front of investors, pharmaceutical companies and researchers from around the world. For a venture like mine, being in that room is worth more than money.

What I need

PKR 1.2 million to get there and back the participation fee, flights, visa, and ten days in Paris.

The participation fee is due by 15 September. Without it, I lose the place.

I'm applying to government programmes and approaching Pakistani companies at the same time. I'm not relying on this campaign alone. But those take time, and the first deadline doesn't wait.                                                          If you give, I'll tell you exactly where it went. I'll post updates. 

And if you can't give, sharing this genuinely helps. So does introducing me to someone who might.

Thank you for reading this far.

Founder, Vironics AI District Attock, Pakistan