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ImmPro
Techstars '26Evanston, US · 3 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
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ImmPro provides top-down proteomics analytical services for biopharmaceutical development, using single-particle protein analysis to characterize proteins and proteoforms. Its offerings support gene therapy vector characterization, biomarker discovery, and disease-specific assays for areas such as neurodegeneration, oncology, and cardiometabolic disease.
Also known as ImmPro - The Proteoform People
Founders & leadership
Investors · 1
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026ImmPro is a privately held life science tools and research-services company focused on top-down proteomics for biopharmaceutical development. It performs single-particle analysis of intact proteins, proteoforms and gene therapy vectors, with applications spanning drug development, diagnostics and clinical research. Northwestern University's Innovation and New Ventures Office and the Querrey InQbation Lab describe ImmPro as a startup that developed a mass spectrometry platform, offered as contract research services, that directly measures biologically significant differences between protein forms to advance diagnostics and therapeutics development.
The company positions proteoforms, rather than peptides, as the unit of measurement for biomarker work, and markets its analysis for any specimen, target or disease, delivered into a customer's research project, database or AI stack. ImmPro's public site lists an Evanston, Illinois address, while its LinkedIn profile describes the company as headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It is a Techstars portfolio company and an Illinois Innovation Voucher program participant.
Founding story
ImmPro was co-founded by Neil Kelleher, a Northwestern University professor of chemistry known for work in top-down proteomics and natural product discovery who has launched several biotech ventures; Jack McGee, who holds a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering from Northwestern and previously led automation at Northwestern's Proteomics Center of Excellence; and Choon Aun Quek, a former Google leader. The company commercializes mass spectrometry technology developed in the Northwestern environment, and ImmPro states the platform rests on more than 20 years and $40 million of prior research.
Business model
ImmPro sells analytical work as contract research services to biopharmaceutical and research customers rather than developing therapeutics itself, running projects on its own mass spectrometry platform and delivering proteoform-resolution data for customer programs, databases or AI pipelines.
Fee-based analytical and contract research services, including gene therapy vector characterization, intact proteoform characterization, disease-specific biomarker assays and custom biomarker development.
Traction
ImmPro's leadership page states the CEO secured partnerships with major industry players within months of launch, and company updates report ongoing work with pharma teams in neurology, oncology and gene therapy without naming them. In 2025 the company announced a high-throughput AAV empty/full capsid assay, and it was included in the 2026 Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator class. No publicly disclosed priced financing round was identified in the reviewed sources.
Latest developments
In 2025 ImmPro announced a high-throughput AAV empty/full capsid assay using automated charge detection mass spectrometry to quantify empty, full and partially filled particles. The company was named to the 2026 Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator class; reviewed public sources do not disclose an associated round label, amount, investor syndicate or valuation.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history, risks & controversies
Market position
ImmPro operates in the proteomics and protein analysis segment of life science tools, where top-down methods measure intact proteins and proteoforms and preserve information that can be lost when proteins are digested into peptides for bottom-up workflows. This matters for biologics, gene therapy vectors, antibodies and disease-associated proteoforms, which can be highly heterogeneous. The company is early-stage, with ecosystem support from Northwestern University and the Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator.
ImmPro's stated differentiation is its focus on single-particle and intact-molecule measurement offered as a service platform for development, quality control and biomarker programs, using I2MS and charge detection mass spectrometry to resolve individual particles of high-mass and heterogeneous samples rather than inferring composition from peptide-level data.
Technology
The core platform is ProteoSight, described as a proprietary single-particle, top-down proteomics platform built on Individual Ion Mass Spectrometry (I2MS). It analyzes whole proteoforms instead of peptide fragments in order to preserve information about protein variants, modifications and complex heterogeneity. Peer-reviewed work affiliated with ImmPro and Northwestern describes automated immunoprecipitation, sample preparation and I2MS workflows for proteoform-resolution measurements, including charge detection mass spectrometry (CDMS) on Orbitrap instruments. CDMS-based direct measurement of individual particles is applied to high-mass and heterogeneous biologics such as AAV capsids.
Go-to-market
The company markets directly through its website with a project-inquiry and consultation model, inviting prospective customers to start a project or discuss collaborations, and draws on the Northwestern University entrepreneurial ecosystem, including residency at the Querrey InQbation Lab and participation in the Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator.
Biopharmaceutical and biotech development teams, including gene therapy programs needing AAV vector quality control, biologics quality groups, and neurology and oncology research teams; public LinkedIn updates state ImmPro is partnering with pharma teams in neurology, oncology and gene therapy, without naming partners. Academic and clinical research groups building biomarker databases are also addressed.
Geography
United States; the company site lists an Evanston, Illinois address, while its LinkedIn profile lists Chicago, Illinois as headquarters, and it is a participant in the Illinois Innovation Voucher program and a resident of Northwestern University's Querrey InQbation Lab in Evanston.
History
ImmPro emerged from Northwestern University research and is a resident startup at the university's Querrey InQbation Lab, with Neil Kelleher listed as faculty founder. It announced a high-throughput automated CDMS assay for AAV empty/full capsid quantification in 2025 and joined the 2026 Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator class.
Risks & controversies
ImmPro has no publicly disclosed priced financing round, and its named industry partnerships are not identified publicly, limiting external verification of commercial traction. Public listings are inconsistent on its headquarters, with the company site citing Evanston, Illinois and its LinkedIn profile citing Chicago, Illinois.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 2
launches, deals, and filingsImmPro was included in the 2026 Northwestern Medicine and Techstars Healthcare Accelerator class; no ImmPro-specific round label, amount, investor syndicate or valuation was disclosed.
ImmPro announced a high-throughput assay for adeno-associated virus capsids using automated charge detection mass spectrometry to quantify empty, full and partially filled particles.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 7
primary sources listed
- ImmPro | Biopharma Analytical Services: Proteoforms & Vectorsimmpro.com · web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does ImmPro do?
- ImmPro is a life science tools and contract research company offering single-particle, top-down proteoform analysis by mass spectrometry.
- Who are ImmPro's investors?
- ImmPro's investors include Techstars.
- Where is ImmPro headquartered?
- ImmPro is headquartered in Evanston, US.