Dean Ho's Biography

Dean Ho, Professor and Co-Director, University of California-Los Angeles

Dr. Dean Ho is currently Professor in the Division of Oral Biology and Medicine and Department of Bioengineering, and Co-Director of the Weintraub Center for Reconstructive Biotechnology at the UCLA School of Dentistry. He was previously an Associate Professor of Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University. Dr. Ho’s team pioneered the development of nanodiamonds for a spectrum of biomedical applications, and notably, NDX, a nanodiamond-doxorubicin complex based upon the potent drug interaction mediated by the diamond facets. NDX administration resulted in a marked enhancement in drug efficacy and reduced toxicity over clinical standards and was preclinically validated in multiple drug-resistant cancer models. Dr. Ho and collaborators are currently developing patient-specific phenotypic personalized medicine platforms that can optimize efficacy and safety towards a broad spectrum of diseases. Dr. Ho is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Translational Research Award, V Foundation for Cancer Research V Scholar Award, John G. Bollinger Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award, IADR Young Investigator Award, and was named a Distinguished Young Alumnus of the UCLA School of Engineering. Ho was also named the inaugural SLAS Endowed Fellow. Dr. Ho is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Laboratory Automation and will serve as Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board in 2015.