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At first glance, a vintage Piaggio Vespa and a Trojan Horse might seem worlds apart, but for Luca Giani, CEO & Co-Founder, of Ilios Therapeutics, they symbolize freedom, innovation and strategic ingenuity. In “The Dish with Johannes”, Luca shares how his journey from Italy to Boston, combined with his curiosity for innovation, led to the founding of Ilios—a company that’s pioneering a novel approach to treating neurodegenerative diseases with Trojan Horse-like small molecules.

Luca’s story begins with his orange Vespa, a 1964 model that he’s had for more than ten years. This iconic scooter, first introduced in the 40s’, was an instant success as it innovated on the vehicle by providing a cheap yet comfortable way to get around. For Luca, the Vespa represents more than just a mode of transportation—it symbolizes the freedom to explore new frontiers, much like his journey from Italy to the United States. This desire for exploration and discovery eventually led him to the biotech industry, where he could channel his curiosity to drive meaningful impact for patients. 

The name "Ilios" itself is a nod to Troy, and the company’s strategy mirrors the legendary Trojan Horse, an infamous and epic chapter of Greek mythology. Just as the Greeks used the horse to stealthily enter the city of Troy, Ilios is developing a novel approach to ferry therapeutics past the blood-brain barrier—a significant challenge in treating neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and Alzheimer's.

Luca conceived the idea for Ilios Therapeutics when he found himself working alongside two professors in adjacent areas of research: Prof. Gianfranco Liguri, researching ways to improve the bioavailability of the antioxidant glutathione; and Prof. Massimo Stefani, who was exploring nature-derived agents to prevent protein misbehavior. Luca was curious about what would happen if the two areas of research were combined: what if merging bioactive pharmacophores with bioavailable glutathione into a single molecule could lead to better outcomes across the blood-brain barrier?

The professors were intrigued by this idea and encouraged Luca to pursue it. From then, Luca began to develop the idea into a company with the help of several accelerators and mentors, such as Lisa Paborsky, who have been instrumental in expanding the company to include experts in chemistry, neuroscience, neurobiology, and neuropharmacology. 

Ilios Therapeutics raised its pre-seed financing in July 2023 and is rationally-designing multi-functional small molecules to treat neurodegenerative diseases, starting with ALS. This approach challenges the traditional one-drug-one-target paradigm, offering a more comprehensive solution. By combining glutathione with pharmacophores from nature, Ilios has developed a platform to rationally-design brain-penetrant small molecules modulating three key drivers of neurodegenerative diseases: protein misfolding, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress. Ilios has already achieved significant milestones, including validating their compounds’ multifunctional activity, and is now moving towards lead candidate selection expected for next year.

Ilios Therapeutics is currently a seven-person team raising seed funding and is a resident company at the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab, operated by LabCentral. 

To learn more about Luca Giani’s path into biotech and the next steps for Ilios Therapeutics, watch our full episode of The Dish with Johannes here on YouTube. To hear about Ilios’s technology skip to 9:13, and for Luca's learnings and advice jump to 13:18. 

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A bit about ‘The Dish’, our new video series.

In this new YouTube series, Johannes Fruehauf, LabCentral’s President and Executive Director, dives deep into the dynamic world of biotech with a series of founders. The series spotlights the stories at the heart of Cambridge’s vibrant biotech culture offering a front-row seat to the innovations that shape the future of biotech. Click here to watch episodes from the series and be sure to follow us on social media to catch new episodes as they’re released.