The Optical Molecular Imaging and Nanobiotechnology Laboratory conducts basic, applied, and translational research at the interface of photonics, medicine, and nanotechnology towards the development of cost-effective optically-based strategies for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring of cancer with particular emphasis on novel technologies to improve women's health care. The research in our laboratory consists of two primary classes of projects presently focused predominantly on applications to breast cancer: (1) optical molecular imaging efforts focused on creating new clinical tools for in vivo imaging and (2) development of activatable nanoengineered probes to provide molecular specificity. In our work on these projects, we collaborate with a number of other research groups on the Rice University campus as well colleagues located in the Texas Medical Center and around the world. Undergraduate and graduate students potentially interested in joining our research team are welcome to contact Dr. Drezek at any time.
Rice University bioengineer Rebekah Drezek has been appointed to serve on the Advisory Committee to the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Drezek, a professor and associate chair of bioengineering and a professor of electrical and computer engineering, assumes her appointment immediately and will serve on the committee through 2022.
Rice University scientists have invented a technology that could potentially identify hundreds of bacterial pathogens simply, quickly and at low cost using a single set of random DNA probes. Rice's "universal microbial diagnostic," or UMD, uses pieces of randomly assembled DNA and mathematical techniques that were originally pioneered for signal processors inside digital phones and cameras.
