NEWS
Date
NORMAN, OKLA. – Wei R. Chen, Ph.D., Stephenson Endowed Chair, Professor, and Interim Director of the Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, recently chaired an international conference, “Biophotonics and Immune Responses XX”, at the Photonics West Symposium sponsored by the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). Chen established this unique conference and has served as its chair since 2006. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the conference.
Biophotonics is a multidisciplinary field that involves the study and application of light (photons) in biological systems. It combines concepts from biology, physics and optics to explore how light interacts with living organisms and tissues. Researchers use light-based techniques to study, diagnose or treat biological and medical conditions. Applying Biophotonics to induce immune responses is an emerging field.
Chen, as a pioneer in this field, recognized the importance of photochemical, photoimmunological, photochemical and photothermal effects in modulating the immune system for detection and treatment of diseases, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases with immunological roots.
The Biophotonics and Immune Responses conference has provided a forum for researchers from academia, industry and other health professional fields to share ideas and collaborate. For the past two decades, it has served as a bridge between technological development and clinical applications, focusing on induction, enhancement, mechanisms and detection of immune responses induced by biophotonics and through the combination of biophotonics with other detection and therapeutic modalities in diagnostics and therapeutics.
The conference has brought basic research scientists and clinicians together to share research experiences and initiate clinical studies. It connected researchers and entrepreneurs – companies had been formed during the conferences. For example, Immunophotonics, Inc., a biotech company developing biophotonics-based immunotherapy for cancer, was conceived during one of the conferences by Chen and collaborators.
After a decade of work, Immunophotonics has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for 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 biophotonics-based immunotherapy developed by Chen’s team.
The conference also provides opportunities for emerging scholars, including postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduate students, to learn from established professionals. This year, two doctoral students in Chen’s lab, Trisha Valerio and Coline Furrer, gave oral presentations at the conference, reporting their research on immunotherapy for pancreatic cancers and nanotechnology-based immunotherapy for cancer treatment.
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. For more information about the university, visit www.ou.edu.
Mike Banad, a researcher with the University of Oklahoma, has been awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to pursue the development of advanced materials that could shape the future of energy-efficient electronics and photonics.
A new partnership between the University of Oklahoma School of Music and the Norman-based nonprofit SunHive Collective is giving OU students hands-on experience working with young adults with special needs, an opportunity that music education faculty member Melissa Baughman, Ph.D., calls “pure joy.”
The University of Oklahoma has once again been awarded the Davis Cup in recognition of its enrollment of Davis United World College Scholar freshmen. This marks the 11th time in 13 years OU has received the award. A total of 75 Davis UWC Scholars began their studies at OU this fall.
