A Chain Reaction

A series of unexpected opportunities led Michael Babich, ’78, from EKU to biotech entrepreneurship, where he now advances cancer research and treatment.

“One thing led to another,” casually remarks Michael Babich, ’78, about his life and career path starting at EKU and culminating in cancer research.

As a high school student in Michigan with “mediocre grades,” Babich never imagined he’d end up in California working on innovative approaches to cancer treatment.

“I always had this inkling in the back of my mind that I would do something medical,” he said.

Later down the road, a literal sign that read ‘Cancer Can Be Beat,’ stuck with him. From that moment on, he felt pulled toward cancer research.

“EKU put me on the trajectory,” said Babich.

Babich came to EKU to play football, encouraged by his high school teacher and coach who had a connection. Once here, a locker room conversation with a teammate guided Babich toward ROTC—where he truly found his fit. And as fate would have it, he met his wife, Lisa, ’77, at EKU through a mutual friend.

After graduating from EKU with a degree in biology and chemistry, Babich was commissioned to active duty at the 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He served as a medical platoon leader in the infantry, taking him around the world to the Arctic Circle and the jungles of Panama, while sharpening his focus on the medical field. Climbing to the rank of colonel, Babich managed hospitals with national and international missions for 30 years in the Army Reserve. 

Babich’s path in military service reflects a tradition that continues at EKU, with the university recently earning the No. 1 ranking among large public universities for Military Friendly® Schools.

While still on active duty at Fort Campbell, Babich happened to bump into a former classmate from EKU. This chance encounter spurred his decision to pursue further education in immuno-pharmacology at the University of Kentucky (UK).

Admitting to not having been an A-student at the time, he chuckled, saying, “I didn’t have the grades, but maturity arrives a little late for some of us.”

With his two years of medical experience in the military, UK accepted him into the program on provisional status. From there, things came together for Babich, and he started getting grants and publishing papers. 

After earning his doctorate, he became a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. He later joined the University of Illinois, where he led curriculum for second-year medical students and ran his own research lab. There, he discovered a target for one-third of all allergies. During a faculty search, a candidate connected that work to cancer research. “It’s all immunology,” Babich recalled the candidate stating. 

This introduction redirected Babich toward cancer research with a start-up biotech company in California. Around this same time, in 2000, he was inducted into EKU’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni, but more milestones followed.

In 2017, Babich co-founded LabyRx, bringing together his military, academic and business backgrounds. The company is developing a vaccine treatment for cancer in collaboration with the University of California, Davis. The vaccine utilizes what Babich calls a “functional marker,” meaning it stimulates the patient’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.

“It trains the body to make immune responses and antibodies against their own cancer cells,” he said. 

Rather than targeting a single organ, the vaccine treats adenocarcinomas, a group of cancers linked to glands. 

“That happens to be 40% of all cancers and about 60% of cancer-related deaths,” he said. “We’re on the front edge of addressing cancer from a marker-driven, rather than an organ-based, approach.”

The LabyRx vaccine is now in phase two of three stages of development, testing efficacy through clinical trials. “We have very encouraging data,” he said.

Babich remains focused on getting the vaccine to market, even if that means positioning the product for acquisition by a larger pharmaceutical company. Having lost his father to cancer before entering this specific research adds urgency to his work. “People are dying every day,” he said.

Beyond his current treatment vaccine, Babich looks toward preventative care and his original passion for allergy research. He credits his persistent momentum to his days at EKU, where he learned on the field that “even when you do get the touchdown… the game’s not over.” For Babich, these experiences might one day “Beat Cancer.”