A team of ASU alumni have teamed up with a Silicon Valley entrepreneur to add a new weapon in the arsenal to fight cancer.
After pioneering the technology that allows music to be digitally stored and purchased, enabling services like iTunes, tech innovator Robert Goldman moved onto his next project: fighting cancer. He has developed a novel administration of chemotherapeutic drugs through a catheter dubbed the IsoFlow.
The highlight of the IsoFlow catheter system is its ability to deliver cancer treatment with extreme accuracy. The catheter is inserted into the body and then guided through blood vessels to the area affected by the tumor.
The catheter tip is then placed at the junction of the vessel where it splits off and connects to the tumor. Once in place, the catheter's balloons are inflated, isolating the vessel to the tumor and allowing for precision administration of the chemotherapy drugs. The system not only restricts the chemotherapy to just the area affected by the tumor, but it also prevents oxygen and nutrients from reaching the tumor.
Goldman began his search for better cancer-fighting technology when his sister, Amy Cohen, was diagnosed in 1998 with colon cancer.
“My younger sister developed cancer, and I’m an entrepreneur, an inventor and engineer, and usually we view things as everything needs to be fixed,” said Goldman. “There’s a solution to every problem.”
Unfortunately, his sister passed away, but this loss further motivated Goldman to come up with an answer. The IsoFlow came after collaboration with researchers at Stanford University's medical school.
Helping him with implementation is a team of four ASU alums: Daniel Rodriguez, Shane Pizzo, Charlie Moran and Kyle Herbert.
Rodriguez met Goldman while coaching Goldman's daughter in Little League with no expectations of getting involved in the company, but after learning of what Goldman was working on, the encounter led to their collaboration.
The four graduates have been tasked with educating the public about the IsoFlow system as well as preparing the Indiegogo campaign for its public debut on Oct. 17.
“We have a team of about six people," Daniel Rodriguez, an ASU alum working on the IsoFlow's Indiegogo campaign, said. "And when you come from three different backgrounds, you know — I got my masters in business, Shane was working in sales and Kyle has experience in media and video — so it took the combined efforts of us to make (the campaign) what it is so far.”
However, Shane Pizzo said the company still has significant room for growth.
"I wan to reiterate how much of a startup this is," Pizzo said. "Rob is the CEO and inventor; he’s actually the sole person behind Vascular designs, so it feels pretty awesome to work with someone within Silicon Valley of his stature … and we’ve been very fortunate to be granted this opportunity"
The team is preparing to launch the IsoFlow catheter's Indiegogo campaign Oct. 17 with the aim of raising $500,000 for the project. The team wants to crowd-fund to make the process of cancer treatment more inclusive.
"We want to give the everyday person the power to make an impact on cancer patients and give them better treatment options," Rodriguez said.
Correction: Due to a reporting error, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that all four of the ASU alumni graduated in 2014. One graduated in 2016. Any reference to graduation year has now been removed.
Reach the reporter at mconturs@asu.edu or follow @mattieo55 on Twitter.
Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.
