Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Point-of-Care Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases
The project involves development of point-of-care diagnosis of
infectious diseases including malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and
diarrheal diseases. Assay development includes development of
molecular-targeted reporting agents and novel DNA and RNA detection
strategies using advances in nanotechnology. Platform development
includes development of miniature microscope and spectroscope platforms
using advances in optical technologies. Isothermal PCR techniques
will also be explored in parallel. Potential students will be
assigned a specific disease and technology that will translate
into a point-of-care platform for low-resource settings.
Development of Optical Imaging Systems for Early Detection of Cance
Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum’s laboratory is involved in the development
and testing of optical imaging systems to enable earlier, more accurate
diagnosis of cancer. This research program involves initial design,
laboratory-based testing, and pre-clinical evaluation of systems capable
of imaging tissue at several organ sites, with a current focus on cancers
of the oral cavity and esophagus. We are designing imaging systems to
provide wide-field, macroscopic scale information, based upon reflectance
and fluorescence from tissue, as well as instruments to perform in vivo
microscopy, enabling visualization of cellular detail within living tissue.
This project is oriented towards instrumentation development, using light
sources including lasers and LEDs, fiber-optic components, optical detectors
and CCD imagers. Prototype systems will incorporate computer control,
user interfacing, and data analysis through software packages such as
LabView and Matlab. Opportunities also exist to overlap with complementary
areas of research within Dr. Richards-Kortum’s lab, including optical
contrast agent synthesis and clinical studies at the Texas Medical Center.
Contact Information
|
