Dr. Biediger and his team is also developing targeted agents to image vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques. Dr. Biediger obtained BS degrees in Mathematics and Chemistry from Texas Lutheran College, followed by a PhD in Organic Chemistry from Texas Tech University. During a postdoctoral fellowship at Florida State University, he was part of the team that completed the first total synthesis of Taxol under the direction of Robert Holton. Prior to his current position at the Texas Heart Institute, Dr. Biediger was Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Encysive Pharmaceuticals, where he directed numerous drug discovery and development projects over fourteen years. These projects resulted in four new chemical entities that have entered human testing (including the VLA-4 antagonist TBC4746) and one other that was selected as a preclinical candidate.