Jeffrey N. Anker is a Wallace R. Roy Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and BioEngineering at Clemson University. He earned his BS degree in applied physics at Yale University in 1998. He earned his doctorate at The University of Michigan in 2005, working for Professor Raoul Kopelman to develop magnetically modulated optical nanoprobes (MagMOONs) to measure chemical concentrations and mechanical properties of solutions. For this work, he was awarded a grand prize at the 2002 National Inventor's Hall of Fame Collegiate Inventor's Competition. From 2005 to 2008, Dr. Anker worked as an NIH National Science Research Award (NSRA) postdoctoral research fellow at Northwestern University under the guidance of Professor Richard Van Duyne.
His postdoctoral research focused on developing real-time high-resolution plasmonic nanosensors. He joined the Clemson Chemistry Department in August 2008. Current research focuses on imaging and spectroscopy using magnetic, plasmonic, x-ray excited microand nanosensors, implantable sensors, orthopedic devices, and medical imaging. Along with Thompson Mefford, he founded the Frontiers in BioMagnetic Particles Meeting Series. Awards include: NSF CAREER award (2013); Clemson Faculty Collaboration Award (2014); Clemson University School of Health Research (CUSHR), and Greenville Health System Embedded Faculty Fellow (2018); University Research, Scholarship, and Artistic Achievement Award (USRAAA) (2018); and senior member of the National Academy of Inventors (2019). O. Thompson Mefford is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science Engineering where he holds a David and Mary Ann Bishop Dean's Professorship, along with an additional appointment in the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson University. He earned his BS degree in Polymer and Textile Chemistry at Clemson in 2003 and a PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Virginia Tech in 2007, where he worked on the development of treatments for retinal detachment using hydrophobic ferrofluids.
Before returning back to Clemson, Dr. Mefford developed methods for the fabrication and functionalization of microfluidic devices as a Post-doctoral Researcher for The Ohio State University Department of Chemistry. Dr. Mefford joined the faculty of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson in the Fall of 2008. His research focuses on developing stable, polymer-iron oxide nanoparticle complexes and composites for biomedical applications. These applications include developing materials for magnetically modulated energy delivery, MRI contrast agents, and drug delivery systems. He currently organizes the Frontiers in Magnetic Particles Conference (www. magneticnanoparticle.
com). In his free time, Dr. Mefford is found running, cycling, sailing, backpacking, and home brewing.