Rui Tang Ph.D. (University of Georgia); B.S. (Nanjing University)

Dr. Rui Tang, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Washington University in St. Louis, where she leads the chemistry section of the Optical Radiology Lab in the Department of Radiology. Her research focuses on the development of near-infrared fluorescent imaging probes for early cancer detection and treatment, encompassing nanoparticles, pH-sensitive organic molecules, dichromic molecules, peptide-based targeting molecules, and fluorescent lifetime imaging probes. She pursues projects developing NIR organic molecule-based imaging probes responsive to kinase activity, glucose transportation, and other biological processes, while enhancing probe performance and stability for translational studies. Dr. Tang also manages the GLP laboratories in the Optical Radiology Lab, supervising production of controlled imaging probe products for clinical translation and collaboration. She earned her PhD from the University of Georgia and has published over 37 indexed works, including her most-cited publication on the LKB1–SIK axis in lung tumor suppression and differentiation (2019, 100 citations).