Rebekah Anna Drezek is an American bioengineer who is Professor of Bioengineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. She also serves as the Associate Chair of the Department of Bioengineering there. Her research uses optical molecular imaging for in vivo assessment of biological tissue. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and was awarded the 2009 Optica Adolph Lomb Medal.
Early life and education Drezek studied electrical engineering at Duke University. She moved to the University of Texas at Austin for graduate studies, and studied the fluorescence and reflectance spectra of cervical tissue.
Research and career The optical approaches developed by Drezek can provide quantitative disease detection and diagnosis without the need for invasive investigations.
Drezek develops molecular imaging technologies to examine tissue pathology and nanoparticle interactions in vivo. She has developed nanoscale scientific tools (e.g. nanoparticles and quantum dot probes) for molecular imaging and the assessment of tumor margins. She works with clinicians and pharmaceutical scientists for anti-cancer vaccines and adjuvant therapies. Her work has been published in 118 papers and has led to four patents.
Drezek has her own lab at Rice University called The Optical Molecular Imaging and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory. The research conducted there consists of two types of projects that are predominantly focused on their applications to breast cancer: the aforementioned research to develop molecular imaging technologies to examine tissue pathology, and the development of nanoengineered probes to provide molecular specificity. Her lab collaborates with other research groups at the university, as well as associates at the Texas Medical Center and other areas around the world.
Awards and honors 2004 MIT magazine 100 Top Young Innovators Award 2005 Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation Becton Dickinson Career Achievement Award 2005 Beckman Young Investigator Award 2006 National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering 2007 Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar 2008 American Society for Photobiology Research Award 2008 Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering 2009 Adolph Lomb Medal
Selected publications
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