Professor Greg Weiss and collaborators have developed a method of detecting cancer molecules within minutes, a breakthrough that could save lives
Greg Weiss, a backpack slung over his shoulder, walks through Aldrich Park toward his office, clear on the other side of campus in the Natural Sciences I building.
This is no leisurely stroll. The 49-year-old, who is a professor of chemistry and molecular biology & biochemistry as well as pharmaceutical sciences, maintains a brisk pace.
Weiss is focused on speed.
“At the end of the day,” he says, “I want to be faster than the next guy.”
It’s a mindset that perfectly suits his research specialty: streamlining cancer diagnosis by finding malignant cells as early as possible.
Weiss, in collaboration with UCI professor Reg Penner, an electrochemist, and Dr. Jaime Landman, chair of the Department of Urology at UCI Medical Center, has come up with a way to detect cancer molecules in urine within 60 seconds – far quicker than conventional tests.
Because cancer is a disease caused by molecules running amok in the body, by hijacking cells that eventually form a tumor, Weiss’ research is a breakthrough that could save lives. And, it’s a breakthrough that’s playing out at the molecular level – an area that is Weiss’ specialty.
In 2015, Weiss made global headlines when, working with Australian chemists, he figured out a way to unboil egg whites. They came up with a method of pulling apart tangled proteins and allowing them to refold.
“We showed that you could uncook the egg and then cook it again,” Weiss says. “We used mechanical energy to drive the proteins into the correct shape. I became really interested in how to change chemicals and do it on a massive scale.”
That same year, Weiss and scientists at PhageTech, a biotech startup he co-founded at UCI Beall Applied Innovation, began working on a much faster way to detect cancer cells. They developed a method using bacteriophages – viruses that infect bacteria – and dragging them onto an electronic circuit for measurement.
“We have this new thing – we call it the Virus BioResistor, or VBR – that gives us this amazing way of detecting cancer molecules in urine really fast,” Weiss says.
“Bacteriophages are a special kind of harmless virus,” he explains. “They’re long and skinny, so we line them up like a kelp forest. And, these phages are able to reach into urine and grab onto cancer molecules more rapidly, which speeds up the whole process of identifying them.”
Weiss and Penner began publishing papers on their VBR breakthrough in 2017.
“We’re really excited about it,” Weiss says.
PhageTech is in the process of commercializing the technology.
“The company is working on stuff like ‘How do we manufacture this? How do I make a ton of these things? How do I make it so it works in all patients and not just some of them?’” Weiss says.
“For example, if a patient is on a lot of medications, those also show up in their urine and could interfere with the process. Things get complicated really fast.”
He continues: “What we have achieved in the lab is amazing, but commercializing it is another fascinating challenge, and it’s something I’m really passionate about.”
Weiss, who lives in UCI’s University Hills, runs every day to his organic chemistry class because he loves teaching so much.
Running to class helps keep him fit. And, keeping cancer patients healthy drives his desire to stay in the race to detect cancer as early as possible.
“If we can diagnose cancer early,” Weiss says, “we’ll be so much better at treating patients. Physicians will be more successful, it will cost us less money, and patients will go through less pain. I’m all about early detection.”