Rebekah A. Drezek
Professor of Bioengineering
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (2001-2002)
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin (2001)
M.S., Electrical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin (1998)
B.S., summa cum laude, Electrical Engineering, Duke University (1996)
Bio Sketch
Rebekah Drezek develops novel optical imaging technologies for the in vivo assessment of tissue pathology. Her basic, applied and translational research emphasizes the design, prototyping, and clinical testing of optical tools to detect, diagnose, treat and monitor the molecular signatures of cancer and early malignancies. This includes: new optical spectroscopy and imaging instrumentation and molecular-specific optical contrast agents; experimental studies into the biophysical origins of measured optical signals; and computational modeling of the interaction of light and biological tissue.
Over the past 10 years, Drezek has made significant contributions to the fields of biophotonics, nanotechnology, and biomedical engineering. She has worked on development of biocompatible nanoparticles for combined diagnosis and therapy of cancers. These particles have been translated to in vivo animal trials.
In 2007, Drezek was one of three U.S. scientists chosen by the DOD for the Era of Hope Scholar Award and is the principal investigator on a $3M breast cancer imaging effort with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Drezek is developing novel probe geometries to allow selective depth-dependent interrogation of epithelial tissues. Her group has led both computational studies and analytical studies demonstrating that this approach can substantially improve the sensitivity of precancer detection and these are being translated through ongoing clinical trials at M.D. Anderson. Modeling tools that optimize the design of optical systems in the computer could soon replace many time-consuming and expensive patient studies. The computational techniques developed in Drezek’s lab predict the optical contrast achieved using a variety of nano-sized contrast agents for molecular imaging. These models are unique across the length of scales in which they can be applied, and represent an advance in the fields of both nanotechnology and biomedical optics.
Drezek’s research has been published in more than 60 papers and had led to six patents/patent applications. Notable awards she has received include the MIT TR100Technology Reviews’ selection of 100 Top Young Innovators Award (2004), the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Becton Dickinson Career Achievement Award (2005), and the Beckman Young Investigator Award (2005). She was also one of four scientists invited to speak on nanotechnology at the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers of Engineering annual meeting (2006). She was the first bioengineer to receive the American Society for Photobiology Research Award (2008), is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (2008), a recipient of the Adolph Lomb Medal from the Optical Society (2009) and a U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Concept Award (2009).
Research Statement
Drezek’s Optical Molecular Imaging and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory approaches projects from an interdisciplinary perspective and actively collaborates with clinicians, molecular biologists, biochemists, and other researchers located within Rice and the Texas Medical Center.
In current medical practice, a final diagnosis of cancer or a precancerous condition is achieved only after histopathologic analysis of a directed biopsy. Biopsies are invasive, painful, and expensive. Moreover, many of the complex changes in cellular biochemistry and morphology that accompany the earliest stages of a disease process are not detectable through routine microscopic examination. Emerging photonics technologies provide the exciting opportunity to capitalize on subtle biophysical changes in tissue to provide quantitative, real-time, minimally invasive detection and diagnosis of disease. Areas of current emphasis include:
- Developing novel optical spectroscopy and imaging instrumentation for tissue diagnosis;
- Validating optical instrumentation through systematic studies using biological samples of progressively increasing complexity, beginning at the cellular level and culminating in small scale clinical trials;
- Developing molecular specific optical contrast agents;
- Conducting studies to elucidate the biophysical origins of measured optical signals; and
- Using computational modeling techniques that capture the interaction of light with biological tissue. Thus understanding the relationships between measured optical signals and underlying tissue biochemistry, morphology, and architecture.