Modulo Bio

Modulo Bio is a biotechnology company developing therapeutics that target the neuroimmune system, with a specific focus on microglia — the brain's resident immune cells that can protect, maintain, prune and repair neurons, or alternatively contribute to neurodegeneration. The company's stated aim is to identify microglial behaviors and states that support brain health and to develop drugs that shift microglia into neuroprotective states in order to halt or reverse disease progression. Its initial disease focus is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), with a broader stated ambition of mapping the entire neuroimmune system to understand how neurodegenerative diseases relate to one another.

The Modulo Neuroimmune Platform is described as an end-to-end system combining stem cell engineering, neurobiology, multiomics and machine learning. Patient cells are converted at scale into functional microglia, which are then studied in multiple complementary models of the neuroimmune system — including a "triculture" model containing microglia, astrocytes and neurons — to test genes, cell states and therapeutic candidates. CRISPR and single-cell techniques are used to manipulate and measure these systems in cell models and patient samples, and machine learning is applied to synthesize results across models to identify cell fingerprints, functional biomarkers, biological targets and optimal experiments. The company says it has identified novel microglial targets and generated candidate molecules.

The company name refers to the modulo operation, which returns the same remainder from very different inputs — an analogy for its approach of unifying non-obvious similarities across different neurobiology models to extract signal from noisy individual models.

Founding story

Modulo Bio was founded in 2021. Its founding group comprises CEO Michael (Mike) Horowitz; CTO Scott Patterson, a technologist previously Vice President of Engineering at Counsyl; and scientific founder Justin Ichida, PhD, a professor at the University of Southern California known for modeling ALS and FTD with patient-derived cells and also a co-founder of AcuraStem. Horowitz has publicly cited personal exposure to FTD — the mother of his best friend developed the disease — as motivation for the company.

Business model

Modulo Bio operates as a therapeutics developer, discovering and advancing drug candidates generated from its internal neuroimmune discovery platform. It also solicits partnerships, offering the insights of its platform to external organizations developing neurology drugs.

Traction

Coverage of the company's launch reported that it had identified novel microglial targets and generated candidate molecules for diseases including ALS and FTD. As of July 2025 leadership stated it was preparing to move its lead program into the clinic and to build out its pipeline. The team was described as nine people at that time.

Latest developments

On 2 July 2025 Modulo Bio announced the appointment of Nicholas A. Saccomano, PhD (President and CEO of OnKure, former Chief Science Officer at Pfizer's Boulder site and at Array BioPharma) and Edmund P. Harrigan, MD (former Pfizer Senior Vice President of Worldwide Safety and Regulatory, a neurologist, and a director of Incyte and Acadia Pharmaceuticals) to its board of directors, citing CNS drug development and regulatory expertise as the company prepares to advance its lead program toward the clinic.