Delee

Alejandro Abarca is a co-founder and acting CTO at Delee Corp. He is a physicist, a Y Combinator, a Singularity University, and a Royal Academy of Engineering LIF alumnus. Abarca is a co-creator of the CytoCatch™ isolation platform and imaging system, which isolates and analyzes circulating tumor cells from blood samples. He has published four scientific papers in international journals. He has over ten years of experience developing and producing medical devices and biosensors, including, a microfluidic device for the isolation of rare cell subpopulations based on dielectrophoretic separation, manufacturing methods for embedding metal electrodes onto thermoplastics for microfluidic applications, and an automated imaging system to study cell’s properties by immunostaining. Abarca also has collaborated in projects related to bioprinting and point-of-care applications with various research groups at Tecnológico de Monterrey. His areas of expertise include microfabrication, manufacturing techniques for mass production, optics, and cell separation based on physical properties.

Juan Felipe Yee is a co-founder and acting CMO at Delee Corp. He is a Y Combinator alumnus, and obtained a M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering and a B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering both from Tecnológico de Monterrey. Yee is a co-creator of the CytoCatch™ isolation platform and imaging system, which isolates and analyzes circulating tumor cells from blood samples, and is responsible for planning, developing, implementing, and monitoring the overall strategy for the analytical and clinical validation of the CytoCatch™ technology. He has published 7 scientific papers in international journals and spent over a decade working and collaborating in the development of several medical devices and biosensors, including, a high intensity phototherapy LED source to treat hyperbilirubinemia in newborns, substrates made from carbon nanofiber mats coated with gold nanoparticles for the detection of specific molecules in simple solutions by SERS spectroscopy, and microfluidic devices for cell isolation based on antigen-antibody interactions, inertial forces, and dielectrophoresis.

Liza Velarde is a co-founder and acting CEO of Delee Corp. She is a Y Combinator alumna and has a bachelor’s degree in International Business from Tecnológico de Monterrey. Velarde is responsible for the development and execution of the company's strategic plans, leading along with her co-founders, the engineering team that built Delee’s core technology. She has raised over $2.4M USD through investments, government funds, and multiple awards, and also secured pre-orders worth a potential value of over $2.5M USD. Velarde has also established strong relations with top hospitals and research centers and her work has been highly regarded by international institutions, such as Cartier Women's Initiative Awards and WeXchange (an initiative of the Inter-American Development Bank). In recent years, she has been acknowledged as one of the 50 most relevant people transforming Mexico and one of Forbes’s 100 most influential women in Mexico, and has been invited as a speaker on various international panels about cancer and entrepreneurship, such as WeXchange 2019 and The Economist: War on Cancer LATAM 2019.

Chau has over 20 years of experience working in the biotech industry. He is the co-founder and CTO of Opentrons, a company that commercializes open-source robots that automate dozens of key laboratory processes, also serving as its CEO for 4 years. Chau was also the VP Eng of BioArray Solutions, which was bought by Immucor in 2008, where he led the engineering team that built the core multiplex qPCR automation technology now used in most blood banks for advanced blood typing. He has been granted more than 15 US and international patents and holds a M.Sc. in Applied Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong.

David Mohler is an Orthopedic Surgical Oncologist, Clinical Professor, and Chief of the Musculoskeletal Tumor Service Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine from Stanford University Medical Center. Mohler received his B.Sc. from Stanford University and his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He completed an internship in General Surgery at UCLA, a residency in orthopedic surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and a Metabolic Bone Disease/Bone Tumor fellowship at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. With over three decades of experience in the field, he has authored and co-authored over 35 papers in peer-reviewed journals, 5 book chapters, and collaborated in various research projects. Mohler is currently a member of several prestigious associations such as the Orthopedic Research Society, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the Musculoskeletal Tumor Society, among others. He has an American Board of Orthopedic Surgery certification and has been honored with awards like the Alpha Omega Alpha, The National Research Service Award and the Saul Halpern, M.D. Orthopedic Educator Award.