Isaac Pence

Dr. Isaac Pence is an Assistant Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center's Department of Biomedical Engineering, with secondary appointments in Internal Medicine and the Charles and Jane Pak Center for Mineral Metabolism. He also holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor role at UT Dallas' Bioengineering Department. His research focuses on developing optical tools for non-invasive disease characterization and therapeutic monitoring, integrating biophotonics, computational analysis, and clinical medicine. Dr. Pence's work includes advancements in Raman spectroscopy for drug distribution analysis, tissue engineering, and cryoneurolysis devices for pain management. He completed his PhD at Vanderbilt University and postdoctoral training at Imperial College London and Harvard Medical School.

Research interests span label-free quantitative tissue mapping, translational biophotonics, and biomarker heterogeneity analysis. His lab develops clinical instruments such as portable Raman systems for in vivo imaging and theranostic platforms. Recent work addresses pelvic organ prolapse via ECM composition analysis and cryotherapy device innovation. Collaborations include UT Dallas and the Texas Instruments Biomedical Engineering and Sciences Building.

Key projects include Raman-guided surgical tools, nanocarrier design, and extracellular vesicle biomarker detection. His contributions have led to funded grants and patents, though specific award names are not listed. The Pence lab actively trains graduate students and postdocs in biophotonics and biomedical engineering.