b'Leading EcosystemElyse BlazevichDanielle Cook Growth and Health President & CEOMarketing & Communications Specialist Colorado BioScience AssociationColorado BioScience AssociationThe women of Colorado BioScienceColorado BioScience InstituteAssociation and Colorado BioScience Institute champion the states lifeEmily Martini Meg Johnsciences community and cultivate andVice President, Partnerships Vice Presidentdiversify our life sciences workforce.Colorado BioScience AssociationColorado BioScience InstituteColorado Womens Day recognized us with the first-ever Colorado Womens DayAmy Goodman, J.D., MBEWomen In STEM Team award in 2024.Vice President & Counsel Lisa WilderIts an honor to support this thrivingfor Policy + AdvocacyPartnership & Program Coordinator Colorado BioScience Association Colorado BioScience Instituteecosystem.Meet theFrancisca (Francis) BermeaCBSA Team Member Success Specialist Colorado BioScience Associationclosed. If cancer recurrence is caught earlier, itdifferent molecules to indicate whether therethe nucleic acids in those tumor cells without would reduce aggressive treatments that canis cancer present or not. We can detectdamaging the cell surface where those cell impair swallowing or speech or involve surgery.cancer very accurately, says Navas-Moreno. antigens or cell proteins are located. IllumifyDxs technology relies on technologyIllumifyDx has streamlined the process withThe upshot? You now have a cancer cell that called a Raman spectroscopy to collect a verya high-throughput system to analyze manycan no longer divide, doesnt cause disease, comprehensive snapshot of the chemistry ofsamples at a time, accurately and repro- or cause further spread of disease, but has the blood. The process separates blood cellsducibly, says Navas-Moreno. The company,all the tumor antigens on their surface that and plasma and collects information fromfinanced by Carney, Navas-Moreno and theirare unique to that patients tumor. And hope-molecules, such as metabolites and lipids,family and friends, is now in pre-clinical trials.fully, in combination with selected adjuvants, that have been secreted by cancer cells as anAfter building a second prototype device, it willit would stimulate the bodys immune system immune response to cancer. Algorithms iden- test the technology on another 500 people. to any reoccurrence of the cancer. tify relative changes in patterns between theWe are an up-and-coming company, and weWere developing what you would call a are really proud of what we are doing, saystherapeutic vaccine, says Ray Goodrich, Navas-Moreno.Ph.D., PhotonPharmasCo-Founderand Chief Scientific Officer. CSU Innovators Create Vaccine for Ovarian CancerThe technology was a long time coming. In 2006, Goodrich had proposed the idea of We are anWhilenotafemale-runbusiness,Fortcreating immunotherapy for solid tumors to Collins-based PhotonPharma is developinghis former employer Navigant Biotechnologies, up-and-comingtechnology that could dramatically improvewhich was later acquired by Terumo Corp. outcomes for womens health. Think: a vaccineIt took the same technology used in blood company, andfor preventing ovarian cancer relapses.treatment systems known as Mirasol PRT we are reallyPhotonPharmas novel technology takesand applied it to tumors. But Navigant wasnt interested in jumping into cancer treatment.parts of solid tumors and creates a single cell proud of whatsuspension of those cancer cells in a liquidInstead, he found the collaboration and we are doing. media. By adding riboflavin and exposingsupport he needed within his community of the mixture to ultraviolet (UV) light at specificresearchers and leaders at Colorado State MARIA NAVAS-MORENO, Ph.D. wavelengths for two to four minutes, scientistsUniversity (CSU). In 2016, as head of the CEO ILLUMIFYDX can generate a photochemistry that disruptsInfectious Disease Research Center at CSU, 2024-2025 BIOSCIENCE COLORADO 19'