The diagnosis is in the second reading

Patch testing is the definitive test for allergic contact dermatitis, and its answer often does not appear until the second reading, days after the patches come off. ImmuneStrata is an early-stage research company developing Sentira™, an investigational approach to that test.

Partner with us Our approach

Standard patch test · illustrative 96 hours

Scale: − negative · ?+ doubtful · + weak · ++ strong · +++ extreme. Reactions that emerge only at the delayed reading are a recognized feature of conventional patch testing. This is a schematic of the established method, not ImmuneStrata data and not a depiction of Sentira™.

The problem

A definitive test that is hard to deliver

Allergen in petrolatum on tape backing, worn for roughly two days, then read more than once across a week. The immunology is well characterized and the allergen chemistry is established. The constraint is the delivery format: it asks for repeat clinic visits days apart, it depends on passive diffusion through skin that varies between patients, and in practice it is concentrated in a relatively small number of specialty centers.

What we are building

A conventional patch test asks a patient to return to clinic three times across a week. Reactions that appear only at the second reading are missed entirely if that visit does not happen.

Our approach

A different way to present allergen to the skin

Allergic contact dermatitis is a delayed, T-cell mediated response: an allergen has to reach the antigen-presenting cells of the viable epidermis before anything can be read at the surface. Conventional patches rely on the allergen finding its own way there. Sentira™ is our investigational approach to presenting allergen to that compartment. The work is preclinical.

The cell the test is actually reading

Langerhans cells sit in the viable epidermis, extending dendritic processes up between the surrounding keratinocytes. They capture allergen, migrate to the draining lymph node, and present it to T cells — which is why a reaction takes days to appear at the surface rather than minutes.

Rendered from geometry, not a micrograph. Illustrative of established cell biology.

Allergic contact dermatitis is a delayed, T-cell mediated response. Nothing can be read at the surface until allergen reaches the antigen-presenting cells of the viable epidermis — and a conventional patch relies on it finding its own way there. This is the established biology of the disease, not a depiction of Sentira™.

What we are working toward

Consistency of presentation: A format intended to depend less on passive diffusion through variable skin. Under investigation.
Fit with existing practice: Designed around the reading criteria and clinic workflow dermatologists and allergists already use.
Wider availability: A longer-term aim of extending contact allergy testing beyond a small number of centers.

Where we are

Preclinical development

Sentira™ is an investigational product in preclinical development. No human studies have been conducted, and its safety and effectiveness have not been established. We are not making performance claims, and nothing on this site should be read as one.

We are speaking with clinical collaborators, investors and industry partners about what comes next.

Get in touch

Pennsylvania Allergy Education Research Fund: Research grant recipient, 2025–2026.
American Contact Dermatitis Society: Presented at the 37th Annual Meeting, 2026.
Founded by physician-scientists: Built by clinicians who run contact allergy testing in practice.

Team

Physician-scientists who run this test in practice

ImmuneStrata's founders co-invented the technology together, bringing allergy and immunology, dermatology and bioengineering to the same problem.

Dara Bakar, MD

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Dara is an allergist-immunologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Allergy and Immunology at the Perelman School of Medicine. He has founded two companies, including a connected cardiac device company, and is a named inventor on one provisional patent application. He has more than 30 publications, with work appearing in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and the Journal of Human Immunity. He is a study team investigator at Penn for the United States Drug Allergy Registry, a national multicenter registry. He treats patients with allergic and immunological skin conditions and is a Fellow of the American Contact Dermatitis Society, an Associate Fellow of Penn's Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, and a member of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. He trained as a postbaccalaureate research fellow at the National Institutes of Health and earned his MD at Brown with a concentration in Medical Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He completed his internal medicine residency at NYU Langone Health and his allergy and immunology fellowship at Penn Medicine, and is currently an MBA candidate in healthcare management at Wharton.

Leo Wang, MD, PhD

Co-Founder and Chief Medical and Scientific Officer

Leo is a dermatologist and bioengineer, and tenure-track Assistant Professor of Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine and of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He has founded four companies and holds seven patents. He has more than 60 publications, with work appearing in Nature Biomedical Engineering, JAMA Dermatology, Advanced Functional Materials, Cardiovascular Research and the Journal of Controlled Release. He is Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Wang Dermatologic Bioengineering Laboratory, which brings together chemists, engineers, immunologists and dermatologists working across skin immunology, materials science and drug delivery. His research has ranged from injectable biomaterials that deliver RNA therapies to the heart to local, sustained drug delivery to the skin for inflammatory disease and hair loss. He treats patients with inflammatory skin disease, including psoriasis, eczema, hidradenitis suppurativa and alopecia, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology. He earned his BA in biochemistry and mathematics, MS in chemistry, PhD in bioengineering and MD at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also completed his dermatology residency.

Contact

Clinical collaborators, investors and industry partners

Tell us which you are and we will reply with the material that fits.

hello@immunestrata.com