San Diego startup and its Indian parent on the trail of cancer therapies.

Byline: Penni Crabtree

Feb. 25--Mark Glassy's life these days is not unlike one of his beloved Weird Tales -- pulp fiction stories or a segment from a Buck Rogers serial. Call it "Dr. Zap and the MultiMab Antibody Missiles of Hyderabad."

The locale -- India -- is exotic. The technology -- genetically engineered antibodies to treat cancer -- is cool. And there's a diverse cast of scientists, international businessmen and politicians.

And there's Glassy, an immunologist, entrepreneur and premier science fiction collector whose two passions sometimes intermingle and fuel each other. "A lot of my concepts of science fiction and science kind of blur together," acknowledges Glassy, known affectionately as Dr. Zap among some colleagues because of his well-publicized passion for sci-fi.

"Antibodies are guided missiles that come in and destroy cancer cells, while antigens are the Evil Empire. And the Force is with you if you can get your antibodies to work well."

Glassy will soon test whether the Force is with him and his latest biotechnology startup, Shantha West. Founded in 2000, the tiny startup hopes to file with …