Rebecca Abergel

Her research interests include ligand design and use of spectroscopic characterization methods to study the biological coordination chemistry and toxicity mechanisms of f-elements and inorganic isotopes, especially as applied to decontamination strategies, waste management, remediation, separation, and radiopharmaceutical development.

Abergel is known for leading the development of new drug products for the treatment of populations contaminated with heavy metals and radionuclides. Clinical development and commercialization of these products are now spearheaded by HOPO Therapeutics, which she co-founded.

Early life and education

Abergel was born in Caracas, Venezuela and grew up in Paris, France. She attended the École Normale Supérieure of Paris for her undergraduate degree, where she studied chemistry. While an undergraduate, she received a scholarship to work in the laboratory of Prof. John Arnold at the University of California, Berkeley. She remained at UC Berkeley to conduct her graduate studies, under the supervision of Prof. Ken Raymond. Her doctoral work focused on the synthesis and characterization of siderophore analogs to probe microbial iron transport systems and to develop new iron chelating agents. After earning her PhD in inorganic chemistry, Abergel pursued postdoctoral research in the UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry and the group of Prof. Roland Strong at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. There she investigated the bacteriostatic function of the innate immune protein siderocalin in binding siderophores from pathogenic microorganisms such as Bacillus anthracis, for the development of new antibiotics.