Founded by Dr. Kristeen Pareja-Navarro and Dr. Tara Tracy, who first crossed paths at the Buck Institute. Their joint work, from a landmark 2023 paper to the patented CT-KIBRA peptide, forms the backbone of EngramBio’s mission to discover and develop treatments that reverse memory loss in patients with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

The team is uniting Alzheimer’s and aging research, developing oligopeptides, small proteins designed to repair neural connections directly. It’s an ambitious goal, but as Tracy notes, “If somebody tells me a project won’t work, often I will do it anyway. I love the challenge. I get so driven by that way of thinking.”

Most Alzheimer's drugs target abnormal protein buildups in the brain; EngramBio instead repairs the synapses where memory breaks down. The company has exclusive rights to the CT-KIBRA peptide, which has restored memory in dementia animal models.

Selected as a 2025 NIH Start-Up Challenge finalist, EngramBio also benefits from visibility and access within the NIH. With 55 million people suffering from Alzheimer's and related dementias today, and cases doubling every 20 years, we urgently need therapies that restore memory, not just slow its loss.