Ainslie Little
ProFound Therapeutics has named biotechnology executive Ainslie Little, Ph.D., as Chief Operating Officer, adding an experienced operations and corporate strategy leader as the Flagship Pioneering-backed company advances its platform for discovering novel therapeutic targets within the expanded human proteome.
Little will oversee the company’s day-to-day operations while leading strategic planning and execution as ProFound scales its organization and expands its pipeline of potential medicines derived from its ProFoundry platform. The appointment comes as the company focuses on translating its protein discovery capabilities into therapeutic programs and strategic partnerships.
Chief Executive Officer John Lepore, M.D., said the company’s priority is building the operational infrastructure needed to convert discoveries from the ProFoundry platform into new medicines. He said Little’s experience scaling platform biotechnology companies and building operational, strategic and partnership capabilities will support ProFound’s next phase of growth as it expands its therapeutic pipeline and advances existing and future collaborations.
Little joins ProFound with approximately 20 years of experience spanning corporate strategy, operations, intellectual property and business development. Most recently, she served as Chief Operating Officer at Latus Bio, where she led general and administrative functions, corporate strategy, intellectual property, legal, alliance management and operational infrastructure.
Before joining Latus Bio, Little spent seven years at BlueRock Therapeutics, rising to Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Operations and serving on the executive leadership team. During her tenure, she helped guide the cell therapy company from its preclinical stage through its acquisition by Bayer AG. Earlier in her career, she worked as a patent agent supporting cell and gene therapy companies across the United States and Canada. She earned a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Commenting on her appointment, Little said ProFound’s ability to explore previously undiscovered proteins across the expanded human proteome presents a unique opportunity to identify new drug targets. She said she looks forward to building the operational capabilities needed to accelerate the company’s scientific discoveries into therapies while supporting its expanding network of strategic partners.
Founded by Flagship Labs in 2020, ProFound Therapeutics is developing a platform-based approach to drug discovery centered on the expanded human proteome—the collection of proteins that extends beyond those traditionally recognized by conventional genomic analysis. The company’s ProFoundry platform combines protein detection technologies, computational methods and high-throughput experimental assays to identify previously uncharacterized proteins and determine their biological functions and roles in disease.
The company believes this approach can uncover a new class of therapeutic targets capable of supporting first-in-class medicines across multiple disease areas. As biotechnology companies increasingly invest in platform technologies that combine advanced computational biology with experimental validation, ProFound is positioning its discovery engine to generate both internally developed drug candidates and collaborative opportunities with pharmaceutical partners.