
Department of Chemistry
N363 Life Sciences Laboratory
240 Thatcher Way
Amherst, Ma 01003
(413) 545-2733
rwvachet@chem.umass.edu
www.umass.edu/chemistry/about/directory/richard-vachet
Professor of Chemistry
My research group is developing new measurement tools to help optimize drug delivery and to assess the effectiveness of the delivered therapeutics. In one area of work, we focus on the development of new measurement tools to track and image nanoparticle-based drug delivery vehicles in vivo. These methods use novel mass spectrometric approaches that are capable of simultaneously monitoring the delivery vehicle and the drug of interest in cells and tissues. In other work, we are developing and applying new measurement approaches to sensitively and selectively detect biomarkers in complex biological fluids. These biomarker detection studies seek to develop a platform by which we can rapidly assess the effectiveness of a therapeutic by measuring the underlying biomolecules that are indicators of a given disease state.
Current Research
We have three primary areas of investigation:
- new mass spectrometry-based methods to image nanoparticles in vivo and
- nanomaterials as novel extraction/concentration/detection methods along with mass spectrometry for protein and breast cancer biomarker analyses in complex biological samples.
- new methods to study the higher-order structure of protein therapeutics
Learn more at Vachet Research Group
Academic Background
BS College of William and Mary
PhD University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Postdoctoral Training: NRC postdoctoral fellowship - Naval Research Laboratory