Bryan F. Shaw is an American

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

, and

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

in Waco, Texas.

Education

Shaw grew up in Spokane, Washington.The Spokesman Review, September 23, 2014; http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/sep/23/app-aims-to-alert-parents-to-sign-of-rare-eye-canc/ He earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry/Biophysics at Washington State University, and received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Career

He is best known for developing

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

for smartphones that can detect eye cancer (

retinoblastoma Retinoblastoma (Rb) is a rare form of cancer that rapidly develops from the immature cells of a retina, the light-detecting tissue of the eye. It is the most common primary malignant intraocular cancer in children, and it is almost exclusively fo ...

) and other eye disorders in children by searching the child's picture for "white eye" (

leukocoria Leukocoria (also white pupillary reflex) is an abnormal white reflection from the retina of the eye. Leukocoria resembles eyeshine, but leukocoria can also occur in animals that lack eyeshine because their retina lacks a ''tapetum lucidum''. Leuko ...

). Shaw developed this software after his wife detected "white eye" in pictures of their own son, who was later diagnosed with retinoblastoma. Shaw is an advocate for parent-based, photographic screening of pediatric eye diseases that present with "white-eye". The software has been credited with initiating multiple early diagnoses of retinoblastoma, Coats’ disease, and myelin retinal nerve fiber layer. In 2016 he testified to the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on the development of the software, known as CRADLE (Computer Assisted Detector of Leukocoria). Shaw has also invented a new method for visualizing 3D imagery in

STEM education Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mush ...

. The method encourages the use of oral

stereognosis Stereognosis (also known as haptic perception or tactile gnosis) is the ability to perceive and recognize the form of an object in the absence of visual and auditory information, by using tactile information to provide cues from texture, size, spati ...

(oral somatosensory perception) to visualize small

3D models In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

of images, using the mouth (tongue, lips, teeth). It was designed to help students with blindness visualize STEM images, but is not limited to students with blindness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Bryan 1976 births Living people American biochemists Baylor University faculty University of California, Los Angeles alumni