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Ditto Biosciences

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Evolutionary intelligence for autoimmune disease

Winter 2026Founded 20253 peopleSan Francisco, CA, USA
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Autoimmune Drug DiscoveryServicesPharma companies licensing or partnering on autoimmune therapiesHigh competition
Moat
AI-driven parasite biology mining + protein engineering expertise from top academic labs; defensible early-stage data.
Key risk
Drug development 10โ€“15 year timelines; high R&D costs; regulatory approval risk; many competitors pursuing similar AI drug discovery.
Why now
AI protein structure prediction (AlphaFold, ESMFold) enabling rapid screening; pharma investing in AI biotech partnerships.
Competitors
Exscientia, Atomwise, DeepMind/Isomorphic, traditional pharma R&D, academic autoimmune programs

About

Ditto Bio discovers drugs for autoimmune diseases by harnessing parasite biology. Viruses, ticks, and worms have experimented over millions of years to create proteins that control the human immune system. We use AI to identify these proteins and engineer them into next-generation autoimmune therapies. Our team is three PhD scientists from UCSF, UCSD, and UC Berkeley who have worked together for 3+ years in biotech. We have deep expertise in parasite biology, computational biology, and software for AI-based protein structure prediction

Founders ยท 3

Dennis Sun
Dennis SunFounder
HarvardBerkeley

Scientist and operator transforming natural proteins into therapies. Trained in evolutionary and developmental biology at Harvard (AB) and UC Berkeley (PhD). Previously led software teams, product development, and scientific partnerships as Chief of Staff at a $500M biotech. Now building a platform to mine proteins from viruses, ticks, and worms that will become the next blockbuster drugs for autoimmune disease.

Adair Borges
Adair BorgesFounder
Berkeley

Entrepreneurial scientist using evolution to build the next generation of therapeutics for autoimmune disease. UCSF-trained PhD with expertise spanning parasitology, virology, and genomics. Published over 50 scientific papers, and is a coinventor on a patent for anti-CRISPR proteins. Former Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley, and previously led a venture creation team at an early stage biotech company. Motivated by a lifelong fascination with parasites.

Emily Weiss
Emily WeissFounder

I'm a molecular and computational biologist working to revolutionize drug discovery for autoimmune disease. At Ditto, I lead the platform for engineering parasite-derived therapeutics. I hold a PhD in microbiology, genomics, and plant genetics, with a focus on sequencing, high-throughput screening, and computational pipeline development. Published in Nature Microbiology and eLife. Previously at Illumina, DuPont, and an early-stage biotech venture team.

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