Dr. Maria R HepelState University of New York, Potsdam, New York, USA, Email: hepelmr@potsdam.edu
Biography
Maria Hepel received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Jagellonian University in Krakow, Poland, founded in 1364. She worked as the Faculty at the State University of New York at Potsdam from 1985 where she is now a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Chemistry. She published over 160 papers which received over 2400 citations, 25 chapters in books, and co-authored / edited 5 books. She has made over 400 presentations at the national and international symposia. She organized many symposia at the American Chemical Society, Electrochemical Society and International Society of Electrochemistry Meetings and has been the program chair of the 2010 North-East Regional Meeting of ACS. Her current research interests include AFM and Raman Spectroscopy imaging, nanoparticles for medical applications, targeted and controlled release of anticancer drugs, sensors for biomarkers of oxidative stress and cancer, drug interactions with DNA, supercapacitors, electrochromic devices and nanotechnology. She won the SUNY Potsdam President's Award for Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavor in 1995 and 2001, the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1998 and SUNY Chancellor's Award for Research in 2003 and Northeast Region, ACS Award for Achievements in the Chemical Sciences in 2012, Rochester, NY.
Research Interest
My interests have been focused on developing novel nanobiosensors and theranostic targeted drug delivery nanocarriers. We have designed a range of piezoimmunosensors for various biomarkers, toxicants, and pollutants, as well as new surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) probes based on plasmonic nanoparticle nanocarriers immobilized on a gold electrode. Thus, loading of drugs and functionalization of nanocarriers for targeted drug delivery could be monitored and tested directly on the SERS sensor before transfecting the nanocarriers into the cells. We are also developing biosensors based on DNA with electrochemical redox or fluorescent labels, enabling studies of DNA damage by chemotherapeutic drugs and toxicants. The current proposal builds on the experience I have developed over many years designing and testing nanoprobes for biomedical and environmental applications. This experience is documented with over 160 papers, 1 book, and 4 edited American Chemical Society books (Web of Science h-index 30, Google Scholar Citation h-index 34).