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Daniel Reker

Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering

Overview


The Reker lab tightly integrates biomedical data science and wet-lab experiments for the analysis and design of therapeutic opportunities. Automated experimentation can be guided by active machine learning to generate knowledge-rich datasets. A key aspect of our research is improving our understanding of the most effective active machine learning workflows to enable the broad deployment of adaptive machine learning and automated experimentation.

We focus our adaptive model development on critical drug properties such as efficacy, biodistribution, metabolism, toxicity, and side-effects. Prospective applications of these predictions enable us to better understand limitations of currently approved medications as well as design new drug candidates, nanoparticles, and pharmaceutical formulations. By integrating clinical data analysis, we can rapidly validate the translational relevance of our predictions and conceive big data-driven protocols for precision medicine and personalized drug delivery.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering · 2021 - Present Biomedical Engineering, Pratt School of Engineering
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute · 2022 - Present Duke Cancer Institute, Institutes and Centers

In the News


Published October 7, 2025
Creating New Drug Delivery Techniques With AI
Published December 3, 2024
Research & Innovation Seed Grants Total Nearly $2 Million
Published July 31, 2023
Allowing Machine Learning to Ask Questions Can Make It Smarter

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Recent Publications


TuNa-AI: A Hybrid Kernel Machine To Design Tunable Nanoparticles for Drug Delivery.

Journal Article ACS Nano · September 23, 2025 Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform nanoparticle development for drug delivery; however, existing strategies typically optimize either material selection or component ratios in isolation. To enable simultaneous optimization of both, ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Pharmacological Sciences Training Program

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPreceptor · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2025 - 2030

Designing Personalized Formulations with Machine Learning

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 2023 - 2028

University Training Program in Biomolecular and Tissue Engineering

Inst. Training Prgm or CMEMentor · Awarded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences · 1994 - 2027

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Education, Training & Certifications


Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-ETH Zurich (Switzerland) · 2016 Sc.D.