Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research are continuing to land crucial support for an imaging technology that enhances the effectiveness of an important new class of cancer treatments.
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell therapy — or “CAR T” therapy as its commonly known — trains a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells. This personalized form of immunotherapy has been transformational in treating cancers such as lymphoma and leukemia. It’s also being studied for many other uses, including solid tumors and autoimmune disorders.
But it also has a drawback: Only about half of all patients eligible for such therapy have T cells healthy enough to be manufactured into viable cancer-fighting agents, leading to high failure rates.
The Morgridge team, led by biomedical engineer Melissa Skala, has developed a new bioimaging technique that can assess T cell fitness in patients, and identify those patients most likely to have the best outcomes. The team has formed the startup company SeLight, led by Skala Lab scientist Amani Gillette.
In summer 2025, the research team hit an important milestone: Funding from the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. That support will ultimately help SeLight demonstrate the feasibility of a prototype that will fit seamlessly in clinical settings.
The project also received support his fall from the UW-Madison Discovery to Product State Economic Engagement & Development Fund (SEED), which will help the team begin to integrate the prototype with a commercial bioreactor system.
The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) also was an early champion of the research. The imaging technology was the 2018 winner of the WARF Innovation Award, the top technology chosen from more than 400 UW–Madison invention disclosures that year. The project also earned a place in the WARF Accelerator Program, which gives inventors support to bring promising technologies to the marketplace.
“Early investment from WARF was critical to de-risk our technology and show that it can succeed in a commercial setting. Now that we have a solid foundation in technical rigor, we can pursue applications and product development,” says Skala.
The novel imaging technology behind SeLight monitors the energy production of T cells and helps identify those cells healthiest and most viable for CAR T therapy.
SeLight could not only ramp up the success rates of CAR T therapies, which cost in the range of $375,000 per patient, but also help ensure that patients who are unlikely to benefit from CAR T are redirected to more viable therapies.
“For CAR T manufacturing, our system could help rapidly identify patients who are most likely to have success on the therapy, which is crucial for doctors and patients alike. Making CAR T cells is a long and involved process, so having an early sense that it is going to work is invaluable,” Gillette says.