Awarded in 2009
Home Department: Bioengineering
Faculty Advisors: Sarah Heilshorn (Materials Science & Engineering) and Calvin Kuo (Hematology)

Research Title: Engineering Intestinal Microenvironments

Research Description: As the cost and duration of clinical trials continue to increase, a rising emphasis is being placed on improving preclinical testing methods for new drug candidate molecules. Despite its prevalence of use, the current standard preclinical absorption model suffers from multiple limitations, including poor reproducibility and marked inaccuracies in predicting drug bioavailability. The goal of Rebecca’s work is to create an improved in vitro mimic of intestinal tissue, the primary point of absorption for most orally administered drugs, by exploiting the molecular-level precision of protein-engineered scaffold materials to control cellular behavior.

WHERE IS SHE NOW?

Rebecca is working on earning a master’s degree in counseling.