Immitra Bio: The Venture Leader Biotech targeting genetic diseases

Meet Amir Taheri, co-founder of Immitra Bio. The biotech startup develops an in vivo gene-editing platform that cuts treatment time from months to days and removes chemotherapy. Amir and the other nine Swiss National Biotech Team members will travel to Boston in June.

Name: Amir Taheri
Location: Zurich
Nationality: Iranian/Swedish
Graduated from: Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran
Prior role: Director Gene Editing at Vector BioPharma AG
Founding team members: Jan Nelis, Amir Taheri, Jacob Corn
Number of employees:  4
Money raised: CHF 2M



What does your product or solution do, and what makes it unique?
Immitra Bio is developing a new way to treat genetic diseases by eliminating the need for gene insertion. This makes our approach fundamentally different from today’s ex vivo stem cell and gene therapy paradigms, which require cells to be removed from the patient, undergo gene insertion outside the body, and be reinfused after chemotherapy-based conditioning. Immitra Bio aims to shift this model toward scalable in-vivo cures, delivering directly inside the body, eliminating chemotherapy, simplifying manufacturing, and reducing the patient journey from months to days.

What trend or shift in your industry is currently creating the biggest opportunity for you?
Moving from lifelong treatment to one-time cures. Genetic medicines are shifting therapy from symptom management to addressing disease at its root. At the same time, advances in RNA delivery and lipid nanoparticles are expanding reach beyond the liver, easing a major bottleneck in in vivo genetic medicine. Together, these trends create an opportunity for Immitra Bio: programmable, scalable in vivo therapies designed to enable curative outcomes without the complexity of ex vivo cell therapy.

How did the idea for your startup originate?
The idea originated from research led by our CEO, Jan Nelis, and colleagues in Prof. Jacob Corn’s lab at ETH Zurich. I joined a team already focused on translating this work toward patients. My role has been to help turn the academic breakthrough into an industry-ready therapeutic strategy, drawing on prior biotech experience to support the move from discovery research into preclinical development. Immitra Bio builds on the belief that the next generation of genetic medicines should not only edit biology, but also unlock what biology already has.

Which market are you addressing, and what potential do you see for your startup in that market?
Our first programs target genetic diseases currently treated with ex vivo cell therapies, which require long treatment courses, hospital stays, chemotherapy conditioning, and carry serious risks. Access also remains limited due to complexity and cost. Immitra Bio is developing in vivo therapies that are simpler, more scalable, and less burdensome. Over time, we aim to expand into liver and muscle diseases as well.

What impact do you want your technology to have five years from now?
In five years, I hope Immitra Bio will have demonstrated clinical impact, with patients treated or ideally cured in first-in-human trials. Beyond one program, our goal is scalable genetic medicines that make curative treatments widely accessible, so no patient is left behind due to delivery complexity or genetic variation.

What major challenges have you faced so far?
Fundraising and choosing the right partner took longer than expected, as is common in deep-tech and biotech. Support from the ETH ecosystem was strong, and the round ultimately became oversubscribed, validating both the science and team. The focus now is on delivering for investors, partners, and patients.

What motivates you on tough days?
We could give patients real options where today there are very few. I found working toward this goal quite fulfilling. Also, the size of the opportunity. If we are right, this approach could open an entirely new therapeutic category.

Why did you decide to join the Venture Leaders Roadshow, and what are you most excited about?
It’s time for Immitra Bio to get international exposure, strategic feedback, and the right investor and industry connections for our next stage of development. And Venture Leaders Roadshow provides that opportunity. This is a chance to pressure-test our story with top investors and biotech leaders, learn from other ambitious Swiss startups, and build relationships that can help us bring our technology closer to patients.