Category: Projects

Image-Guided Drug Delivery in Cancer

The central focus of our laboratory is image-guided drug delivery, combining nanovehicles, imaging techniques and methods to enhance delivery.  A great challenge in cancer therapy is to deliver efficacious doses of drug to diseased tissue with minimal systemic toxicity.  Another challenge is in the development of high-quality imaging protocols for identification of cancerous lesions as… Read more Image-Guided Drug Delivery in Cancer

Translational Cardiovascular Nanomedicine

We are creating nanotechnology solutions for cardiovascular disease.  Our lab is developing nanoparticles to image and deliver miRNA therapeutics to atherosclerotic plaque and damaged heart tissue.  We are creating VCAM-1 targeted nanotherapeutics and have demonstrated the ability to prevent the development of atherosclerosis in mouse models as shown on the left.  A current focus of the… Read more Translational Cardiovascular Nanomedicine

MR-guided Focused Ultrasound Therapy (MRgFUS)

Our laboratory has collaborated with Image Guided Therapy to develop preclinical MR-guided focused ultrasound technologies.  Using a 3 MHz annular array, Bruker 7T MRI and motorized positioning system, we have developed methods to treat cancer by combining ultrasound with chemo and immunotherapy.  We are now developing a 256 element MR-guided FUS system for integration with… Read more MR-guided Focused Ultrasound Therapy (MRgFUS)

Real-time Ultrasound Thermometry

  Ultrasound imaging can spatially map small temperature changes resulting from hyperthermia. In our laboratory we release drugs from vehicles using mild hyperthermia.  We have developed temperature-sensitive nanoparticles in which a drug is sequestered in a crystal at neutral pH and encapsulated in a lipid shell with a low melting point.  After temperature-mediated release, the… Read more Real-time Ultrasound Thermometry

Molecular Imaging

Molecular imaging is a highly interdisciplinary research field, involving scientists from the biological, engineering, physical and medical sciences.  Our laboratory explores the use of ultrasound, PET and MRI-based techniques to diagnose disease and to develop therapeutic strategies.  One focus of the laboratory is to develop microbubble contrast agents for ultrasound molecular imaging.  A second focus… Read more Molecular Imaging

Immunotherapy

A major current focus of our laboratory is the development of strategies to combine immune adjuvants and thermal or chemotherapy.  We find that such strategies can create a curative systemic response in aggressive cancers and we are working to characterize the mechanisms and enhance the efficacy.  We are currently evaluating these strategies in pre-clinical models… Read more Immunotherapy