Alumni Spotlight: Diego Rey, Ph.D. 2010

Diego Rey conducted his Ph.D. work in Prof. Carl Batt’s lab, where he developed novel strategies for biofunctionalization of nanomaterials and exploring their potential as cancer imaging agents and therapeutics. At Cornell he benefited from a highly interdisciplinary research environment with exposure to basic research, clinical applications, and entrepreneurial activities. Diego says Prof. Batt’s diverse research programs provided his students with a uniquely enriching graduate experience and a launchpad for future endeavors. While at Cornell, Diego co-founded GeneWEAVE, Inc., along with Leonardo Teixeira (Ph.D. 2009, Microbiology) and Jason Springs (M.B.A. 2009). The insight for starting GeneWEAVE came from Diego’s exposure to various nucleic acid detection tools and techniques, all of which suffered from stringent sample preparation requirements that limited their utility. GeneWEAVE went on to commercialize a platform technology that enables the development of in vitro diagnostics for detecting bacteria and their antimicrobial susceptibility without the need for sample preparation. After Cornell, Diego continued his role as GeneWEAVE’s chief technology officer as the company raised venture capital investment and grew to 50 employees. In August 2015, Roche acquired GeneWEAVE, making the company a division of Roche Molecular Diagnostics. Diego currently serves as head of research there, where he continues to develop simple-to-use and cost effective diagnostics with the goal of reducing infections worldwide caused by multidrug-resistant organisms.