How UPMC Enterprises helped turn early immunology research into a new company taking on autoimmune disease
In 2018, scientists at the University of Pittsburgh were pursuing fundamental questions about how the immune system drives disease. Science was promising, but like many early discoveries, its future was uncertain.
What followed over the next eight years became a powerful example of what UPMC Enterprises unique in health care: identify breakthrough science, invest in its development, and help transform scientific discoveries into companies with the potential to improve patient care.
Through sustained investment, company-building expertise, and a commitment to following the science wherever it led, UPMC Enterprises helped transform those early discoveries into what is now ai3Bio, a biotechnology company emerging from stealth with significant financing and a new approach to treating autoimmune disease.
“At UPMC Enterprises, we don’t just invest in ideas. We build companies around breakthrough science,” said Fabian Tenenbaum, executive vice president of UPMC Enterprises and Board Chair of ai3Bio. “Our goal is to identify discoveries with the potential to change health care, then provide the capital, expertise, and operational support needed to help them succeed.”
Building the Foundation
UPMC Enterprises partnered with founders Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, Dario Vignali, PhD, and Greg Delgoffe, PhD, to launch Novasenta in 2018, committing to the Series A financing to help transform pioneering immunology research into a biotechnology company focused on unlocking the therapeutic potential of the immune system. From the outset, Novasenta combined expertise in oncology, metabolism, and immunology to better understand disease biology and identify novel therapeutic opportunities.
As Novasenta helped lay the scientific foundation for ai3Bio, the company distinguished itself through a human-centric discovery approach. Leveraging its close connection to UPMC’s clinical operations, the company analyzed human tissue samples to gain deeper insights into disease mechanisms and uncover promising therapeutic targets with direct clinical relevance.
By 2021, with support from UPMC Enterprises, Novasenta built state-of-the-art laboratory and computational capabilities in Pittsburgh, including advanced facilities for both in vitro and in vivo research. These laboratory resources remain a critical component of ai3Bio’s research infrastructure and continue to support its scientific and drug discovery efforts.
Novasenta also developed sophisticated computational biology capabilities that enabled researchers to move beyond T-cell biology in oncology and explore the complex interactions of the human immune system across a broad range of diseases. These capabilities helped expand the team’s understanding of immune biology across multiple disease states and now provide a strong foundation for ai3Bio as it advances the next generation of AI-powered immunology and therapeutic discovery.
UPMC Enterprises’ involvement extended well beyond its initial investment, providing strategic guidance, operational expertise, talent support, and access to the broader UPMC and University of Pittsburgh innovation ecosystem as the company expanded its scientific and technical capabilities.
During Novasenta’s formative years, UPMC Enterprises Executive Vice President Matthias Kleinz, PhD, DVM, served as CEO, helping establish the operational foundation needed to translate groundbreaking science into a growing biotechnology enterprise.
“The science was exceptional from the very beginning, but great science alone doesn’t create a successful company,” Dr. Kleinz said. “Building a life sciences company requires the right leadership, operational expertise, talent, and long-term commitment to development. UPMC Enterprises brought all of those elements to Novasenta, helping transform groundbreaking research into a company with the foundation to create real impact.”
Following the Science
As researchers continued studying immune system responses and their impact on disease, their work began pointing beyond the company’s original focus in oncology. What started as an effort to better understand cancer biology uncovered broader insights into immune pathways that appeared to play a role across multiple diseases. Rather than remaining focused on a single therapeutic area, the team expanded its research to explore how immune dysfunction contributes to a range of conditions and where those insights could reveal new therapeutic opportunities.
“Novasenta developed an innovative approach to studying the human immune system by integrating patient-derived tissues with machine learning,” said Tenenbaum. “The work started in oncology, but through those discoveries the team identified entirely new opportunities in immune-mediated diseases. The ability to uncover previously unseen drivers of immune dysfunction revealed the potential for therapies that could go beyond symptom management and potentially modify the course of disease.”
These discoveries reshaped how researchers thought about autoimmune disease. Rather than broadly suppressing the immune system, they saw the potential to precisely target and eliminate the cells driving disease, opening the door to treatments designed to address the underlying cause rather than simply manage symptoms.
For UPMC Enterprises, this progression reflected exactly the kind of scientific journey it was created to support: helping breakthrough discoveries evolve, adapt, and ultimately realize their full potential.
A New Chapter Takes Shape
In 2026, Novasenta and Corner Therapeutics came together to form ai3Bio, a biotechnology company focused on advancing new approaches to autoimmune disease. UPMC Enterprises remains a committed investor, participating alongside co-lead investor Ziff Capital Partners to support ai3Bio’s continued growth and mission to address meaningful health care challenges.
ai3Bio is advancing two proprietary platforms, STARx and TDeplete, designed to target autoimmune disease at its source. By leveraging advances in immunology, artificial intelligence, antibody engineering, mRNA, and lipid nanoparticle technologies, the company aims to develop more precise therapies that move beyond broadly suppressing inflammation.
The company’s name reflects the three disciplines that underpin its approach: advanced immunology, autoimmunity, and artificial intelligence. Led by an experienced management team and supported by a world-class scientific advisory board, ai3Bio is well positioned to advance its programs toward clinical development and deliver transformative treatments for patients living with autoimmune disease.
“ai3Bio demonstrates exactly what we hope to achieve through our innovation ecosystem,” said Tenenbaum. “We identified promising science, helped build a company around it, supported its evolution as the science advanced, and helped position it to attract significant outside investment. That’s the journey from discovery to impact.”
A Pittsburgh Story
While ai3Bio’s ambitions are global, its story remains deeply rooted in Pittsburgh — and the employees and research that built Novasenta will remain in the city as part of ai3Bio, continuing to grow Pittsburgh’s life sciences venture environment.
For years, UPMC Enterprises has worked to demonstrate that world-class health care innovation can be built here, creating a setting where researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, operators, and investors can work together to transform discoveries into companies.
The evolution from Novasenta to ai3Bio demonstrates the strength of that ecosystem. What began as early-stage scientific research ultimately became a company capable of attracting significant investment, recruiting world-class talent, and pursuing new solutions for patients with autoimmune disease.
“One of the things we’re most proud of is proving that breakthrough biotechnology companies can be founded and scaled through the UPMC and University of Pittsburgh ecosystem,” said Tenenbaum. “When scientific discovery, clinical expertise, entrepreneurial talent, and investment capital come together, remarkable things can happen.”
From the founding of Novasenta in 2018 to the launch of ai3Bio in 2026, this journey exemplifies UPMC Enterprises’ commitment to solving meaningful health care challenges and advancing innovations that can improve patient care.
Next Steps
Note: UPMC has a financial interest in ai3Bio.
