Dense Immune develops a multi-antigen immune instruction platform to study and support durable CD8+ T-cell responses against latent viral diseases. Skip to main content
Dense Immune | Immune Instruction Platform
PHASE: PRECLINICAL / MFG

The industry optimized
recognition. We engineered
instruction.

Conventional vaccines are structurally limited to humoral amplification. Dense Immune investigates mechanisms of immune instruction to support durable CD8+ T-cell responses against latent pathogens.

Rationale

Immune Instruction — Working Hypothesis

"Access to intracellular antigen processing pathways may be a defining variable in immune durability. Dense Bodies retain native viral architecture and membrane fusion capacity, enabling the study of how structural antigens are processed by antigen-presenting cells without viral replication. This represents a working scientific hypothesis guiding ongoing preclinical research."
Extracellular Environment Cytosolic Entry (MHC-I)
Antigen Breadth Multi-Antigen

Native Presentation

Simultaneous delivery of tegument and envelope proteins, reflecting the complexity of the native virus structure.

Ref: Lehmann et al., J Virol 2019.
Immune Response Dual-Arm

Cellular & Humoral

Induction of neutralizing antibodies and high-avidity CD8+ T-cells observed in preclinical models.

Ref: Pepperl et al., J Virol 2000.
Development Focus

Lead Indication: HCMV

Human Cytomegalovirus represents the systemic failure of antibody-only approaches. Our lead program (DI-101) addresses post-transplant complications where antiviral prophylaxis fails.

DI-101 Prophylactic Vaccine
HSCT & SOT Patients
DISCOVERY PRECLINICAL / TOX CLINICAL PH1
Governance

Built to Execute

Zahra Ghodratian

Zahra Ghodratian, VMD

CEO & Co-Founder

  • Transitioning elite virology to global platform scale.
  • Coordinates CMC, toxicology, and Phase 1 preparation.
Strategy Capital
Azelarab Terkemani

Azelarab Terkemani, MD

CMO & Co-Founder

  • Bridging unmet clinical needs with biological strategy.
  • Leads regulatory dialogue and pharmacovigilance setup.
Clinical Regulatory
Niels Lemmermann

Prof. Niels Lemmermann

CSO & Co-Founder

  • Institute for Virology, University Hospital Bonn.
  • Guides antigen breadth and T-cell correlates.
Immunology T-Cells
Bodo Plachter

Prof. Bodo Plachter

CTO & Co-Founder

  • Deputy Director, Institute for Virology (Mainz).
  • Architect of DNA-free Dense Body production.
Virology CMC

Portraits are provided for identification purposes. Affiliations (University Hospital Bonn, UMC Mainz) are listed to indicate the academic positions of our scientific leadership. Dense Immune operates as an independent entity.