Oncologist Nora Disis honored as UW School of Medicine’s Inventor of the Year for work developing cancer vaccines

Preeclampsia detection project headlines CoMotion Innovator Showcase

Mary L. "Nora" Disis, director of UW Medicine's Cancer Vaccine Institute and the UW School of Medicine's 2024 Inventor of the Year

Yingye (Cheri) Fang of UW Bioengineering, winner of the 2024 CoMotion Innovator Showcase

Members of the University of Washington’s innovation ecosystem gathered last Tuesday at Intellectual House on UW’s Seattle campus to celebrate the UW School of Medicine’s Inventor of the Year award and the CoMotion Innovator Showcase.

This year’s honoree is oncologist Mary L. “Nora” Disis, director of UW Medicine’s Cancer Vaccine Institute (CVI) and cofounder of CoMotion-supported spinoff EpiThany, among her many academic and advisory roles. A holder of several patents in cancer immunotherapy and diagnostics, she studies the development of vaccine and cellular therapy for the treatment and prevention of common malignancies. (She spoke with CoMotion in 2023 about gender in innovation; read the interview.)

“Important inventions that truly help people are never the work of one person,” Disis said, as she recognized the CVI and EpiThany staff in attendance. “They come from super smart people working together as a team, staying together, and following through. I’ve been so fortunate to be at the University of Washington with the Cancer Vaccine Institute, and to be at a place that values teamwork and ensures that teams stay together.”

The event also included the annual CoMotion Innovator Showcase, where several research teams present posters and give lightning-round pitches. At the end of the evening, attendees vote on which presentation was most impactful, with a $1K prize hanging in the balance.

Yingye (Cheri) Fang, senior research scientist and acting instructor with the Imoukhuede Lab in UW’s Department of Bioengineering, won the most votes with her presentation on the blood test her team is developing to predict preeclampsia, a cardiovascular condition affecting pregnant women. This work was previously bolstered by a competitive CoMotion Innovation Gap Fund (IGF) award in the spring 2023 cycle and a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

“I wear different hats, including my commercialization hat, but transitioning into that doesn’t come naturally,” Fang said, noting that she’s appreciated the pitch practice that comes with the IGF process. “Without these experiences, I would be talking about deep science and no one would understand me or give me a thumbs-up.” She’s thinking of starting a company and applying for more commercialization grants in the next year.