NEWS
NORMAN, OKLA. – Wei R. Chen, Ph.D., Stephenson Chair, Professor and Interim Director of the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, recently organized a session titled Immunophotonics for the Gordon Research Conference Optics and Photonics in Medicine and Biology, held from July 7 to 12, in Lewiston, Maine. Chen also gave an oral presentation, "Localized Immunophotonics for the Treatment of Metastatic Cancers" at the conference.
Chen presented recent results of pre-clinical and clinical results in cancer treatment using their novel immunophotonics technology. Chen’s doctoral students, Trisha Valerio and Coline Furrer, also presented their research results at the conference with posters.
Chen is a pioneer in the field of immunophotonics. His research team is among the first to use biophotonics to induce immune responses to treat late stage, metastatic cancers through the abscopal effect — a phenomenon when a local therapy shrinks not only the targeted tumor, but other untargeted tumors in the body. Specifically, Chen’s team developed a unique combination of laser ablation and a novel immunological drug for the treatment of late-stage, metastatic cancers through local intervention.
Chen is a co-founder of Immunophotonics, Inc. and has served as a member of its Board of Directors since its inception. Immunophotonics has been conducting clinical trials in Europe for the past several years. In 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a phase 1b/2a multiple center clinical trial for late-stage patients with colorectal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma, using the novel therapy developed by Chen’s team.
About the University of Oklahoma
Founded in 1890, the University of Oklahoma is a public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. As the state’s flagship university, OU serves the educational, cultural, economic and health care needs of the state, region and nation. OU was named the state’s highest-ranking university in U.S. News & World Report’s most recent Best Colleges list. For more information about the university, visit ou.edu.
Doris Benbrook, Ph.D., a Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, has been named Associate Director for Translational Research at OU Health Stephenson Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-Designated Cancer Center in Oklahoma.
The Harold Hamm Diabetes Center at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences will gain a new deputy director, Matthew Potthoff, Ph.D., effective January 1. Potthoff will also hold the title of Harold Hamm Endowed Chair in Clinical Diabetes Research and professor of biochemistry and physiology, with a secondary appointment in the division of neurology in the OU School of Medicine.
James George, M.D., and Jennifer Holter-Chakrabarty, M.D., were recognized by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) during its annual meeting Dec. 7-10.
