Please join us for the annual BME Jaharis Lecture.

Dr. Omid Veiseh from Rice University presents "Bioengineering Cell-based Therapeutics"

Abstract: Cell-based therapeutics are an emerging modality that can potentially treat many currently intractable diseases through uniquely powerful modes of action. Our group is innovating new biomaterials and cellular constructs for medicine and biology by combining chemical biology, cellular engineering, and multi-scale fabrication. We have pioneered innovative approaches to synthesizing and in vivo screening of large libraries of biomaterial formulations for tailored applications in immunology and medicine. In my talk, I will describe our advances in discovering immunomodulatory biomaterials that can interact appropriately with the host immune system for localized immunomodulation. I will highlight our efforts to develop "cytokine factories" locally activating the innate and adaptive immune response to generate systemic immunotherapy and eradicate metastatic cancer. This approach has advanced to phase I/II human clinical trials for treating recurrent, refractory ovarian cancer.

Bio: Dr. Omid Veiseh, Ph.D., is a Professor and CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research in the Departments of Bioengineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. He is also the Director of Rice University's Biotech Launch Pad, a new initiative with a mission to accelerate the translation of Rice University discoveries and technologies into clinical practice to provide rapid patient access to leading-edge therapeutic products. He leads an interdisciplinary translational research program to engineer and commercialize next-generation cell-based therapeutics for various human diseases. His team leverages the latest techniques in synthetic biology, immunoengineering, and materials science to develop innovative cell-based platforms for real-time and feedback-regulated production of biologics. Throughout his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed publications, including those in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Materials, Nature Medicine, and Nature Biomedical Engineering. He is an inventor on more than 50 pending or awarded patents. He is also a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple biotechnology companies, collectively attracting ~ $500M in private and public investment capital. Dr. Veiseh has been elected as a fellow of the Controlled Release Society and a member of the National Academy of Inventors.