Rebecca Richards-Kortum

About

Rebecca Richards-Kortum is the Malcolm Gillis University Professor and Professor of Bioengineering at Rice University, where she also serves as Co-Director of the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. Guided by the belief that all of the world’s people deserve access to health innovation, her research and teaching focus on developing low-cost, high-performance technologies for remote and low-resource settings. She is known for providing vulnerable populations with access to life-saving health technologies that address diseases and conditions with high morbidity and mortality, such as cervical and oral cancer, premature birth, sickle cell disease, and malaria. Her laboratory has concentrated on translating research that integrates nanotechnology, molecular imaging, and microfabrication technologies to create inexpensive, portable optical imaging systems capable of rapid point-of-care diagnosis, detection of molecular signatures of pre-cancer, assessment of tumor margins, and monitoring therapy response. Richards-Kortum has developed over 40 patents and authored a textbook titled 'Biomedical Engineering for Global Health.' Her work has led to numerous collaborations with institutions worldwide, including the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Northwestern University, and international partners in Malawi, Brazil, China, and other countries. Recognized for her leadership and innovation, she has received numerous awards,…

Selected publications

• In vivo lensless microscopy via a phase mask generating diffraction patterns with high-contrast contours

  Nature Biomedical Engineering · 2022-03-07 · 98 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract The simple and compact optics of lensless microscopes and the associated computational algorithms allow for large fields of view and the refocusing of the captured images. However, existing lensless techniques cannot accurately reconstruct the typical low-contrast images of optically dense biological tissue. Here we show that lensless imaging of tissue in vivo can be achieved via an optical phase mask designed to create a point spread function consisting of high-contrast contours with a…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Allele-Specific Recombinase Polymerase Amplification to Detect Sickle Cell Disease in Low-Resource Settings

  Analytical Chemistry · 2021-03-10 · 40 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of common, life-threatening disorders caused by a point mutation in the β globin gene. Early diagnosis through newborn and early childhood screening, parental education, and preventive treatments are known to reduce mortality. However, the cost and complexity of conventional diagnostic methods limit the feasibility of early diagnosis for SCD in resource-limited areas worldwide. Although several point-of-care tests are commercially available, most are antibody…

  PublisherDOI

• Sample-to-answer, extraction-free, real-time RT-LAMP test for SARS-CoV-2 in nasopharyngeal, nasal, and saliva samples: Implications and use for surveillance testing

  PLoS ONE · 2022-02-25 · 38 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  The global COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for rapid, accurate and accessible nucleic acid tests to enable timely identification of infected individuals. We optimized a sample-to-answer nucleic acid test for SARS-CoV-2 that provides results in <1 hour using inexpensive and readily available reagents. The test workflow includes a simple lysis and viral inactivation protocol followed by direct isothermal amplification of viral RNA using RT-LAMP. The assay was validated using two differe…

  PublisherDOI

• Emerging Trends in Point-of-Care Technology Development for Oncology in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

  JCO Global Oncology · 2025-06-01 · 9 citations

  reviewOpen access

  The growing cancer burden and suboptimal diagnostic capacity in low- and middle-income countries calls for urgent innovation in diagnostic solutions. Point-of-care technologies (POCTs) offer a transformative approach to decentralizing cancer diagnostics by providing rapid, affordable, and scalable testing in resource-constrained settings. Recent advancements, including loop-mediated isothermal amplification and multiplexed lateral flow immunoassay, enable high-sensitivity detection of cancer bio…

  PublisherDOI

• One-hour extraction-free loop-mediated isothermal amplification HPV DNA assay for point-of-care testing in Maputo, Mozambique

  Nature Communications · 2025-08-07 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Human papillomavirus (HPV) is responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer. Affordable point-of-care DNA testing is needed for cervical cancer screening in low- and middle-income countries, where most cervical cancer cases occur. HPV DNA testing typically requires complex lab infrastructure and trained personnel. In this work, we develop a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP)-based HPV DNA test, which targets three of the most oncogenic HPV types (HPV16, HPV18, HPV45) and a cellu…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Awards & honors

• U.S. Science Envoy, U.S. State Department (2018)
• Finalist, MacArthur Foundation 100&Change Competition (2017)
• Pierre Galletti Award, American Institute for Medical and Bi…
• George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching, Rice University…
• Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award, Optical Society of Ameri…

Similar researchers at Rice University

• Antonios Mikosh-139
• Gang Baoh-114
• Rebekah Drezekh-56