James W. Bacus, Ph.D.
Dr. Jim Bacus, a retired scientist, inventor and business entrepreneur, has been involved with research and development since the 1970's, and has founded 2 successful startup companies. He is the holder of numerous US and related foreign patents, and many scientific publications.
In the past he has introduced and created markets for various microscope digital imaging platforms. He has developed clinical digital imaging methods for blood cell recognition, anemia diagnosis, cervical cancer detection, DNA ploidy measurement, estrogen and progesterone receptor measurement, Her2/neu measurement, and pre-invasive cancer progression. For example, while still a researcher at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, in the 1970's, Dr. Bacus developed the first microscope based automatic leukocyte differential counter. He pioneered and introduced the era of commercial digital image quantitation and morphometric image analysis in pathology in the 1980's with his first startup company, Cell Analysis Systems. This company developed the first quantitative microscope-based tests for DNA Ploidy, estrogen receptors and Her2/neu analysis in breast and other cancers. In a second startup company, Bacus Laboratories, he was the first to commercialize and introduce virtual microscopy into medical education and pathology, essentially replacing microscopes in medical education, and introducing the current era of remote visual inspection of virtual microscope slides via the Internet in pathology. He worked closely with the American Board of Pathology to introduce virtual microscopy into board certification of pathologists in the late 1990's and 2000's.
Although his main focus has been in the medical area (above and other links on this Website), he is currently involved in a 3rd startup, developing an advanced, next generation, pool table lighting system, SmartBilliard Lighting. The system has improved LED table lighting with video cameras and computers built into the light to enable recording of game play. The lighting system interfaces directly with the Internet.