It began, as so many modern start-ups do, with a cold email. Two Irish scientists – school friends who had taken different academic paths before converging again – were pitching an idea that might have sounded implausible even a few years ago: a start-up using artificial intelligence to design viruses that could treat disease.  In gene therapy, scientists modify viruses to act as delivery vehicles, exploiting their natural ability to enter human cells and deposit genetic material.  Killian O’Hanlon and Hugh O’Brien, both doctorate-trained researchers, believed that advances in AI could supercharge that process, enabling progress in three of the…

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