ALMOST SEVEN YEARS into a promising telecommunications career, alumna Debra Wawro Weidanz faced a professional crossroads: Stick with her secure corporate job or dive headfirst into the choppy waters of high-tech startups?
She chose to take the plunge, hoping the technology that she and Ph.D. candidate Sorin Tibuleac had developed as graduate students would find a market.
“I made the decision to jump from a nice, stable industry position to leading a new business venture,” Weidanz says, “and I have never looked back.”
The startup, Resonant Sensors Inc. (RSI), has become a global leader in rapid biosensor screening systems that help biotech companies develop drugs more quickly with minimal chemical processing. Born from a novel sensor system created by Weidanz, Tibuleac, and UTA electrical engineering Professor Robert Magnusson, RSI is also designing various rapid diagnostic tests, including one for COVID-19.
The Texas Instruments Distinguished University Chair in Nanoelectronics, Dr. Magnusson was Weidanz’s faculty adviser and has played a major role in RSI’s ascent, serving as chief technology officer since they founded the company.
“Debra personifies UTA’s thriving entrepreneurial spirit,” he says. “She gained valuable research experience as both an undergraduate and graduate student and has built upon those skills to make a significant impact in the biotech industry.”
In addition to starting RSI, Weidanz co-founded Abexxa Biologics with her husband, Jon, a UTA professor and associate vice president for research. Abexxa, which devised breakthrough treatments in cancer immunotherapy, was acquired by pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim in 2021.
She says partnering with UTA was crucial to the success of both Abexxa and RSI. In addition to licensing intellectual property from the University, the companies benefited from leased lab space, fee-forservice equipment, and opportunities to collaborate with faculty researchers.
Weidanz credits UTA’s hands-on approach to learning and its flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem for accelerating her career. To give back, the couple recently made generous gifts supporting the Electrical Engineering Department and the Office of Research.
“Both Jon and I feel that we can contribute, in our small way, to foster excellence in research and education and to help brand UTA as a leader in innovation,” she says. “We want UTA to be part of the growing biotech/life science North Texas landscape in entrepreneurship.”
