immunitoAI: A Life Science Entrepreneurship
By
Dr Aridni Shah, Co-founder & CEO immunitoAI
30th September 2023
Dr Aridni Shah, has a PhD in Biological Sciences from NCBS, TIFR and is a Co-Founder and CEO of immunitoAI along with Trisha Chatterjee who has an expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. At immunitoAI novel Antibody Therapeutics with pre-defined drug properties, are discovered, entirely using AI. The AI-platform is built to be capable of generating de novo antibody and antibody fragments against any epitope and does not depend upon a biological source, for the lead molecule. immunitoAI has been selected to participate in the TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield, 2023 in San Francisco.
Dr. Aridni provided an overview of the technology /science behind immunitoAI, use of AI to develop antibody-based therapeutics and share her academic-to-entrepreneur journey. Dr Shah, shared her journey, from uncovering the molecular networks governing honey bee foraging for her PhD thesis to starting a Lifescience startup, that generates “nanobodies” against disease-related target epitopes, in a bottom-up approach. She emphasized the importance of preparing oneself before venturing into a lifescience startup, for instance undergoing a course/workshop that introduces one to the knowhows of a startups.
Dr shah emphasized on building partnerships that enhance complementary skill sets And take into account the scalability of the idea. Alongside she discussed the importance of weighing the translation fecundity of an idea particularly if it was resource intensive. Unlike tech startups, Lifescience startups require longer incubation period, and would require a longer time to break even, she opined.
