A professor from the Cullen College of Engineering's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is part of one of 20 teams or individuals chosen for the 2022 Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics annual cohort.
According to Texas Medical Center Innovation (TMCi), the effort is comprised of Texas-based startups working to address the world's most significant cancer challenges with novel technologies and treatments. As the innovation hub of the Texas Medical Center, TMCi spearheads the Accelerator for Cancer Therapeutics, funded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) in association with the Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB).
Wei-Chuan Shih, Ph.D., along with Dr. Steven Lin of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, are part of the 2022 cohort. Shih is a Cullen College of Engineering Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. They were chosen to further develop Scenexo as part of the nine months of clinical and business development education and advisement they will receive from the accelerator program.
“I am very excited and honored to be selected to participate in the TMCi ACT Accelerator, and I look forward to learning about how to build a startup,” Shih said. “Scenexo aims to provide disruptive optical technologies for cancer early detection, treatment monitoring and post-treatment surveillance.”
In addition to being a member of the cohort, Shih is a Fellow of the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), and a senior member of the National Academy of Inventors, the Optica (formerly Optical Society of America) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). A winner of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, he also serves as an Associate Editor for the Optica Optics Express, and the SPIE Journal of Nanophotonics. He has published more than 120 papers and holds 18 issued U.S. patents.