Robert M. DiFazioCo Founder

United States - Cambridge, Massachusetts

I'm passionate about changing the way we cure disease. Current methods of drug discovery, manufacture, and delivery are not meeting our needs as a modern society. To improve how we cure disease, I co-founded Parallel Bio to design and engineer better tools that are inspired by human biology. Our first innovation is a human 'immune system in a dish' to discover drugs and immunotherapies more likely to work in patients. Our platform has all of the same elements as a human immune system, meaning you can test drugs and vaccines as if you were testing them in actual patients from the start. The biggest reason why 92% of new drugs fail is that they were tested in mice - but with our human platform, pharma companies will know which drugs will successfully treat patients, speeding up the process and reducing the cost. This product will be the first step in dramatically re-imagining tools to treat and cure the toughest diseases we face today and tomorrow.

When I’m not working on Parallel Bio, you can find me learning German, attending the symphony or an art exhibit, and with my nose in a good book. I also enjoy travel and will try any kind of food once.