Imprint Labs, a new nonprofit initiative focused on decoding the body's immune memory, announced today it has secured $15 million in philanthropic funding to advance its pioneering work in uncovering the root causes of chronic diseases. The organization aims to develop novel technologies that can identify triggers for conditions including autoimmune diseases, long COVID, and neuropsychiatric disorders by analyzing historical information stored within immune cells.
The New York-based Focused Research Organization (FRO), catalyzed by Convergent Research, is developing what it calls "forensic immunology" tools to unlock critical insights from the immune system's historical archive.
Decoding the Immune System's Memory
"We may not know what's causing chronic disease - but the immune system probably does," said Beck Brachman, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Imprint, who recently presented the concept at a TED event. "In addition to being an army, the immune system is also an archive. We founded Imprint on the thesis that the immune system's historical archive can be accessed and translated to identify unknown causes of chronic disease, enabling the development of diagnostics, treatments, and even cures."
The initiative addresses a significant gap in medical research. Millions of people suffer from immunological diseases and chronic conditions potentially linked to immunological triggers. Over 50 million Americans are affected by autoimmune diseases, often initially triggered by infections, injuries, or tumors. Additionally, approximately 6% of patients with acute COVID-19 infections develop long COVID, and emerging evidence suggests a substantial portion of the nearly 1 billion cases of mental illness worldwide may stem from underlying immunological causes.
A key challenge in understanding these conditions is that their initial triggers often occur years before diagnosis. Traditional longitudinal studies to identify these triggers are prohibitively expensive and logistically complex. For example, a recent study linking Epstein-Barr virus to multiple sclerosis required tracking 10 million people over 20 years.
Building a New Research Infrastructure
Imprint is developing tools to reconstruct immune histories from memory B cells and T cells at scale. This approach aims to extract information from memory immune cells, which contain a record of all immune exposures throughout a person's life—essentially functioning as a biological "web browser history" of diseases and their hidden triggers.
"Foundational datasets and new machine learning approaches are required to decode the immune archive at scale," explained Victor Greiff, PhD, co-founder and Director of Computational Immunology at Imprint. "Current efforts largely focus on how antibodies recognize single targets, but important disease signatures can only be detected by investigating the immune system as a whole."
The initial funding will support establishing Imprint's high-throughput data generation pipeline, building its first computational tool, and piloting disease applications. The organization's ultimate goal is to enable researchers to reconstruct individualized immune repertoires, identify patterns within and between patients' unique immune profiles, and explore relationships between immune exposures and chronic conditions like long COVID, multiple sclerosis, and depression.
Strategic Partnerships and Support
Imprint has received philanthropic support from several key backers, including Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Convergent Research, Peter Reinhart, and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC). The organization has been selected as a 2025 LifeSci NYC Expansion Fund awardee, part of a $1 billion initiative to position New York City as a global leader in life sciences.
"New York City is cementing itself as a global leader in life sciences and paving the way for cutting-edge innovation – like the work happening at Imprint – to emerge right here in the heart of the city," said NYCEDC Chief Strategy Officer Cecilia Kushner. "We are proud to support trailblazing companies like Imprint whose groundbreaking work will help accelerate scientific discovery and life science jobs in NYC, while uncovering the cause of chronic diseases and enabling people all around the globe to live longer."
In addition to funding support, Imprint was incubated by Cornell Tech, one of New York City's premier research institutions. Dr. Fernando Gomez-Baquero, Director of the Runway Startup Postdoc and Spinout Program at Cornell Tech and member of Imprint's Board of Directors, emphasized the transformative potential of the organization's work: "By decoding the immune system's memory, Imprint is unlocking a frontier of discovery that could change how we diagnose, treat, and even prevent chronic disease."
A New Model for Scientific Research
Imprint represents a new approach to scientific research through the FRO model. Adam Marblesone, PhD, co-founder and CEO at Convergent Research, explained: "We built Convergent Research to support FROs, like Imprint, that are moonshot efforts to create new tools and datasets that will close critical gaps and massively advance our ability to do science. The immune record is a robust system that we still can't read, and our scientific tests often come up short when we inquire into the root causes and mechanisms of chronic illnesses, especially when it comes to what we now think of as brain diseases."
Unlike traditional research institutions or pharmaceutical companies, Imprint operates as a nonprofit startup focused on creating public goods in the form of research tools and datasets. The organization aims to extend the immunotherapy revolution beyond cancer to autoimmune, neurological, and psychiatric disorders by building the fundamental infrastructure needed to understand these complex conditions.
For researchers and potential partners interested in learning more about Imprint's work or collaboration opportunities, information is available at imprint.org.
