Sabrina Ronen

Sabrina Ronen is a Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). She is a member of the UCSF Brain Tumor Center within the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC) and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3). Her research focuses on developing translational magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) metabolic biomarkers for oncogenic transformation and anti-cancer therapy response. Current projects investigate metabolic reprogramming in mutant IDH and TERT promoter tumors, as well as imaging biomarkers for immunotherapies.

Education: BSc in Chemistry/Biochemistry (Hebrew University, 1981), MS in Chemistry (San Jose State University, 1986), PhD in Chemical Physics (Weizmann Institute of Science, 1991).

Research expertise includes hyperpolarized 13C MRS, 31P MRS, and 1H MRS approaches applied to preclinical cancer models. Key areas of study include glioma metabolism, drug response monitoring, and biomarker validation. Funded projects include NIH grants focusing on telomere maintenance mechanisms, metabolic imaging of therapy response, and IDH mutational status assessment.

Awards include Senior Fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (2016), Board of Trustees role at the World Molecular Imaging Society (2015–2018), and Distinguished Investigator from the Academy of Radiology Research (2013).

Her lab collaborates extensively with HDFCCC Brain Tumor Center investigators, integrating biochemical assays, molecular biology, and advanced imaging techniques to advance neuro-oncology diagnostics and therapeutics.