UH, Baylor researchers make breakthrough with new pediatric leukemia treatment device

childhood cancer

Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston have developed a new blood-filtering machine that poses fewer risks to pediatric patients with hyperleukocytosis. Photo courtesy UH.

A team of Houston researchers has developed a new microfluidic device aimed at making treatments safer for children with hyperleukocytosis, a life-threatening hematologic emergency often seen in patients with leukemia.

Dr. Fong Lam, an associate professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and a pediatric intensive care physician at Texas Children’s Hospital, partnered with Sergey Shevkoplyas, a professor of biomedical engineering at UH, on the device that uses a large number of tiny channels to quickly separate blood cells by size in a process called controlled incremental filtration, according to a news release from UH.

They tested whether performing cell separation with a high-throughput microfluidic device could alleviate the limitations of traditional conventional blood-filtering machines, which pose risks for pediatric patients due to their large extracorporeal volume (ECV), high flow rates and tendency to cause significant platelet loss in the patient. The results of their study, led by Mubasher Iqbal, a Ph.D. candidate in biomedical engineering at UH, were published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

“Continuously and efficiently separating leukocytes from recirculating undiluted whole blood — without device clogging and cell activation or damage — has long been a major challenge in microfluidic cell separation,” Shevkoplyas said in a news release. “Our study is the first to solve this problem.”

Hyperleukocytosis is a condition that develops when the body has an extremely high number of white blood cells, which in many cases is due to leukemia. According to the release, up to 20 percent to 30 percent of patients with acute leukemia develop hyperleukocytosis, and this places them at risk for potentially fatal complications.

The new device utilizes tiny channels—each about the width of a human hair—to efficiently separate blood cells through controlled incremental filtration. According to Lam, the team was excited that the new device could operate at clinically relevant flow rates.

The device successfully removed approximately 85 percent of large leukocytes and 90 percent of leukemic blasts from undiluted human whole blood without causing platelet loss or other adverse effects. It also operates with an ECV that’s about 1/70th of conventional leukapheresis machines, which makes it particularly suitable for infants and small children.

“Overall, our study suggests that microfluidics leukapheresis is safe and effective at selectively removing leukocytes from circulation, with separation performance sufficiently high to ultimately enable safe leukapheresis in children,” Shevkoplyas said in the release.

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A team of researchers at the University of Houston is working to develop a new treatment for Rhabdomyosarcoma, an aggressive cancer with a higher incidence in young children. Photo via Getty Images.

UH research team receives grant to fight aggressive pediatric cancer

cancer research

Researchers at the University of Houston have received a $3.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help find innovative ways to treat Rhabdomyosarcoma, or RMS.

According to a statement from the university, RMS is a malignant soft tissue sarcoma that has a higher incidence in young children and is responsible for 8 percent of pediatric cancer cases with a relatively low survival rate.

One way UH is working on the issue is by studying how and why RMS cells, which are found most often in muscle tissue, divide uncontrollably without ever maturing into normal muscle cells. The researchers aim to tackle a target inside RMS cells known as TAK1, which plays a key role in regulating cell growth.

“By targeting TAK1, we aim to stop the cancer at its source and help the cells develop normally,” Ashok Kumar, the Else and Philip Hargrove Endowed Professor of Drug Discovery at the UH College of Pharmacy and director of the Institute of Muscle Biology and Cachexia, said in a news release. “This approach could lead to new and better treatments for RMS.”

According to UH, preliminary results demonstrated that TAK1 is highly activated in embryonal RMS cells, which are found in younger children; alveolar RMS cells, which are found in older children and teens; and human RMS samples. This suggests that the protein plays a major role in the development of this form of cancer.

The team still aims to uncover how the protein helps RMS cancer grow and plans to evaluate how blocking TAK1 can be used as a therapeutic.

“Blocking TAK1, either by changing the genes (genetic approaches) or using drugs (pharmacological approaches), can stop certain harmful behaviors in cancer cells,” Kumar added. “This was tested both in lab-grown cells and in living models, showing that TAK1 is a key target to control RMS cancer’s spread and aggressiveness, and inhibits tumor formation.”

Allterum Therapeutics Inc., a portfolio company of Fannin Innovation Studio, is using the funds to prepare for clinical trials. Photo via Getty Images

Houston biotech startup raises millions to battle pediatric cancer

fresh funds

Allterum Therapeutics Inc. has built a healthy launchpad for clinical trials of an immunotherapy being developed to fight a rare form of pediatric cancer.

The Houston startup recently collected $1.8 million in seed funding through an investor group associated with Houston-based Fannin Innovation Studio, which focuses on commercializing biotech and medtech discoveries. Allterum has also brought aboard pediatric oncologist Dr. Philip Breitfeld as its chief medical officer. And the startup, a Fannin spinout, has received a $2.9 million grant from the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.

The funding and Breitfeld's expertise will help Allterum prepare for clinical trials of 4A10, a monoclonal antibody therapy for treatment of cancers that "express" the interleukin-7 receptor (IL7R) gene. These cancers include pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and some solid-tumor diseases. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted "orphan drug" and "rare pediatric disease" designations to Allterum's monoclonal antibody therapy.

If the phrase "monoclonal antibody therapy" sounds familiar, that's because the FDA has authorized emergency use of this therapy for treatment of COVID-19. In early January, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced the start of a large-scale clinical trial to evaluate monoclonal antibody therapy for treatment of mild and moderate cases of COVID-19.

Fannin Innovation Studio holds exclusive licensing for Allterum's antibody therapy, developed at the National Cancer Institute. Aside from the cancer institute, Allterum's partners in advancing this technology include the Therapeutic Alliance for Children's Leukemia, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital, Children's Oncology Group, and Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Although many pediatric patients with ALL respond well to standard chemotherapy, some patients continue to grapple with the disease. In particular, patients whose T-cell ALL has returned don't have effective standard therapies available to them. Similarly, patients with one type of B-cell ALL may not benefit from current therapies. Allterum's antibody therapy is designed to effectively treat those patients.

Later this year, Allterum plans to seek FDA approval to proceed with concurrent first- and second-phase clinical trials for its immunotherapy, says Dr. Atul Varadhachary, managing partner of Fannin Innovation Studio, and president and CEO of Allterum. The cash Allterum has on hand now will go toward pretrial work. That will include the manufacturing of the antibody therapy by Japan's Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, which operates a facility in College Station.

"The process of making a monoclonal antibody ready to give to patients is actually quite expensive," says Varadhachary, adding that Allterum will need to raise more money to carry out the clinical trials.

The global market for monoclonal antibody therapies is projected to exceed $350 billion by 2027, Fortune Business Insight says. The continued growth of these products "is expected to be a major driver of overall biopharmaceutical product sales," according to a review published last year in the Journal of Biomedical Science.

One benefit of these antibody therapies, delivered through IV-delivered infusions, is that they tend to cause fewer side effects than chemotherapy drugs, the American Cancer Society says.

"Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-produced molecules engineered to serve as substitute antibodies that can restore, enhance or mimic the immune system's attack on cancer cells. They are designed to bind to antigens that are generally more numerous on the surface of cancer cells than healthy cells," the Mayo Clinic says.

Varadhachary says that unlike chemotherapy, monoclonal antibody therapy takes aim at specific targets. Therefore, monoclonal antibody therapy typically doesn't broadly harm healthy cells the way chemotherapy does.

Allterum's clinical trials initially will involve children with ALL, he says, but eventually will pivot to children and adults with other kinds of cancer. Varadhachary believes the initial trials may be the first cancer therapy trials to ever start with children.

"Our collaborators are excited about that because, more often than not, the cancer drugs for children are ones that were first developed for adults and then you extend them to children," he says. "We're quite pleased to be able to do something that's going to be important to children."

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Telsa targets Houston area for new $10 billion manufacturing plant

Project Sun City

Electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla is considering building a new $10.1 billion solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

If approved, the plant, called Project Sun City, would be located on a 3,050-acre site off FM 762 and FM 1994 in Richmond, Texas. Tesla aims to finish construction in 2028, with the plant being operational by early 2029.

The plant will manufacture photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules that can convert sunlight into electricity. PV Magazine reports that the facility is "the largest single manufacturing investment Tesla has proposed on paper."

Advisory and consulting firm Kroll submitted the documents to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and noted if an agreement regarding tax incentives isn't reached, the project will exit Texas.

Tesla has requested credits under the Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) Act. The incentive program aims to attract large, capital-intensive economic development projects by lowering the property taxes an entity must pay over 10 years if it meets requirements related to job creation and investment. For example, pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. recently announced that its forthcoming $2.3 billion Houston-area manufacturing site is a qualified project under the JETI program.

Kroll predicts that the facility would create 9,712 new full-time jobs, over 1,100 construction jobs and billions of dollars in future property tax revenue, the documents show. Additionally, it says the project will spur $1.1 billion in local business expenditures and that Texas would increase its GDP by approximately $107 billion as a result of the project activities.

Tesla opened its $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, last year. The company is continuing its goal to deploy 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing in the U.S before the end of 2028. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 100 gigawatts is equal to about 8 percent of the country's power grid capacity.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Tech giant Apple opens Advanced Manufacturing Center at massive Houston facility

up and running

Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. unveiled its Advanced Manufacturing Center in the Houston area last week, marking the completion of the second of three facilities the tech giant plans to launch in the city by the end of this year.

The 20,000-square-foot training center will welcome small- and medium-sized businesses for free training and educational sessions to "help accelerate smart manufacturing across America," according to a release from Apple. Apple opened a similar Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit last year.

The AMC is part of Apple's 500,000-square-foot site in northwest Harris County. It also features a massive manufacturing site for Apple’s advanced AI servers and Mac mini. The facility was originally slated to open in 2026, but Apple began producing its advanced AI servers ahead of schedule in 2025.

The company said it plans to begin manufacturing its Mac mini at the site this year. The move will bring production of the compact desktop computer to the U.S. for the first time.

“In less than nine months, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into this Houston facility. We stood up a factory, started production, and shipped the first advanced AI servers off the line. Today, we’re thrilled to open our new Advanced Manufacturing Center, a place where businesses, workers, and students can learn the same innovative processes that we use to make Apple’s most groundbreaking products. And we’re pleased to begin Mac mini production later this year,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in the news release. “We believe in American workers and American ingenuity, and we are moving at an incredible pace because we want to build more than great products. We want to build the future of American manufacturing.”

Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Center. Photos courtesy Apple

Apple's Houston expansion is part of a $600 billion commitment the company made to the U.S. in 2025.

The company originally announced plans in February 2025 to open a 250,000-square-foot Houston factory, but doubled the facility's planned size about a year later. Apple has reported that the factory will employ thousands of workers.

“Houston is grateful to Apple for this significant investment in our city. The Advanced Manufacturing Center will create local jobs and will continue improving the quality of life of Houston residents," Houston Mayor John Whitmire added in the release. "The AMC also recognizes our city as a growing technology hub and solidifies Houston’s leadership in the manufacturing sector of the United States.”

The opening comes on the heels of New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. officially naming Houston home of its new $2.3 billion, state-of-the-art manufacturing site. Read more here.

Nominations for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are due by Aug. 27

Calling All Innovators

Calling all Houston innovators: The 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, presented by InnovationMap, return this fall to celebrate the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem right now.

We're asking you to nominate Houston's top innovators and startups for this year's awards. Nominations are open now through August 27 and can be made on behalf of yourself, your organization, and other influential leaders in the local innovation scene.

The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative individuals and companies in Houston across 10 prestigious categories.

This year's awards will honor the following categories:

  • Minority-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.
  • Female-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman.
  • Energy Transition Business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.
  • Health Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.
  • Deep Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics, and space sectors.
  • Startup of the Year (People's Choice), honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an interactive voting experience.
  • Scaleup of the Year, honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.
  • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups.
  • Mentor of the Year, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs.
  • Trailblazer, honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community.

You have three weeks to submit nominees, so don't delay — nominate today at this link or fill out the form below. Qualified nominees will receive a formal application to complete, which will be reviewed by our esteemed panel of judges to determine the finalists and winners.

More announcements about the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are coming soon, including an introduction to this year's panel of judges. Interested in sponsoring the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards? Please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

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