Fostering clinician-led biotech innovation

The Rice Biotech Launch Pad has set an ambitious course to transform lab discoveries into real-world solutions for patients, and at the center of this effort is Omid Veiseh, PhD, its faculty director and a professor of bioengineering at Rice University.

Veiseh sat down with Medical Device & Technology, a brand of Medical Economics, to offer his insights into how Rice University’s incubator fast-tracks promising biotech ventures — from cutting-edge immunotherapies to advanced diagnostic platforms — by pairing clinicians and researchers with entrepreneurs, investors and industry partners.

“Our projects all start with a clinician founder,” Veiseh said. “It’s a problem that a clinician has seen, either in treating their own patients or a trial they ran, that has a technological gap.”

Among the current slate of projects, teams are pushing the boundaries of cell therapy, regenerative medicine and medical device design. From developing new biomaterials that promote tissue healing to harnessing synthetic biology for next-generation cancer treatments, each project is laser-focused on bringing tangible benefits to physicians and patients, according to Veiseh.

The result is a growing pipeline of innovations poised to change the way physicians diagnose and treat complex diseases. Watch our conversation with Veiseh to learn more about the mission of the Rice biotech launch pad, details on some of its projects, trends in tech transfer, and how they manage the balance of targeting innovation that most benefits patients in need.

About Omid Veiseh, PhD

Veiseh 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's 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 material 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 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.

Veiseh received a dual PhD in Materials Science & Engineering and Nanotechnology from the University of Washington. He completed his postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert Langer and Daniel G. Anderson at MIT and Harvard Medical School.