The annual TR100 list recognizes individuals under age 35 whose innovative research in technology has a profound impact on today's world. Nominees are recognized for their contributions in transforming the nature of technology and business in industries such as biotechnology and medicine, computing, and nanotechnology.

"In two short years at Rice, Rebekah Drezek has established a reputation among both faculty and students as an outstanding scholar and teacher," said Rice President David Leebron. "Her application of nanotechnology toward the non-invasive detection and diagnosis of diseases such as breast cancer holds great promise for improving prevention and treatment."

Drezek, the Stanley C. Moore Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, conducts translational research at the interface of two emerging areas in biomedical engineering: nanobiotechnology and biophotonics. Her laboratory's projects emphasize developing new technologies to improve women's health care with a current focus on detection, diagnosis, and monitoring therapy of breast, ovarian, and endometrial cancer.

In the area of nanotechnology, she works in collaboration with 2003 TR100 winner Jennifer West, Rice's Isabel C. Cameron Professor of Bioengineering and professor of chemical engineering, and Naomi Halas, Rice's Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and professor of chemistry. Drezek's nanotech research focuses on medical applications of a tunable class of nanoparticles called metal nanoshells that were invented by Halas. Drezek's team is designing, fabricating, and validating molecular-specific optical imaging agents based on nanoshell bioconjugates. The agents are par
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Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
21-Sep-2004