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Ed R. Blazek, PhD

Ed Blazek, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Radiation Oncology, RUSH Medical College
Radiation Biology Instructor
Education

PhD, Biophysics, University at Buffalo - State University of New York
Postdoctoral Research, Argonne National Laboratory

Research Areas

Patient-derived and established tumor cell radiosensitivity measurements in two- and three-dimensional culture; Brain metastases and primary brain tumor radioresistance mechanisms including tumor stem cells; Tumor control probability modeling; Radiation-induced DNA damage and repair; Molecular radiation dosimetry
 

Contact Info:

University Radiation Medicine
1520 W. Harrison St.
Chicago, IL  60607
Phone: (312) 942-5751
Fax: (312) 942-2339
Links:
Biography

Ed R. Blazek, PhD, is Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology at RUSH University Medical Center. He earned a PhD in Biophysics at the University at Buffalo - State University of New York, studying cellular and chemical effects of a cancer-seeking drug activated by visible light. His postdoctoral research at Argonne National Laboratory investigated the chemistry and biology of both ionizing radiation and photosensitizer damage to DNA. He has supervised the dissertations for two PhD students and one MS student. He is a currently a lecturer in radiation biology for Radiation Oncology residents and for the graduate course in Cancer Biology GCC611 at RUSH. Previously he was a course director for the Biotechnology Program at RUSH.  He is the director of the X-irradiator Core Facility.

Blazek serves on the Radiation Safety Committee and its subcommittee on informed consent. As Biological Safety Officer, he is an executive member of the Institutional Biosafety Committee overseeing recombinant DNA research and of the Biohazard Committee overseeing pathogen research.

Blazek enjoys classical music concertgoing and listening with his wife, hiking, gardening, and Cubs baseball—usually by radio.

Honors and Activities
  • 2012 - RUSH Graduate College Commencement Hooder (by student election)
  • 1996 - Farrington Daniels Award (This award is given for the best basic research paper on radiation dosimetry published in the journal Medical Physics in 1995, as judged by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.  The honored paper-W. Chen et al., 1995 (Selected publication no. 5) represents the doctoral dissertation research of Ph.D. advisee Weimin Chen.)
     
Publications
  • Simulated SBRT of patient-derived NSCLC cultured by conditional reprogramming: Radiobiological comparison with established cell lines.  E. R. Blazek and J. A. Borgia.  ASTRO 2020 Poster 3182.
  • Daoy medulloblastoma cells that express CD133 are radioresistant relative to CD133- cells, and the CD133+ sector is enlarged by hypoxia. Blazek ER, Foutch JL, Maki G. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2007 Jan 1;67(1):1-5. Epub 2006 Nov 2. PMID:17084552
  • Mechanistic prediction of tumor control from pretreatment volume, in vitro sensitivity, and cell kinetics parameters. In Volume and Kinetics in Tumor Control and Normal Tissue Complications. Edited by Bhudatt Paliwal, Jack Fowler, Donald Herbert, and Minesh Mehta 1998 AAPM Press, pp. 462-473.
  • Subdenaturing (pH 11.1) filter elution: more sensitive quantification of DNA double-strand breaks. Kaur BS, Blazek ER. Radiat Res. 1997 May;147(5):569-78. PMID:9146702
  • The relaxation of supercoiled DNA molecules as a biophysical dosimeter for ionizing radiations: a feasibility study. Chen W, Blazek ER, Rosenberg I. Med Phys. 1995 Sep;22(9):1369-75. PMID:8531861
Grants

Reduce Cesium Irradiator Replacement Project—Comparison Studies.  E. R. Blazek, P.I. Contract 638561.  Battelle Memorial Institute, Pacific Northwest Division.