Bioengineering Seminar Series: Ching H. Tung

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
0408 Animal Science/Agriculture Engineering Bldg.
Professor Yu Chen
(301) 405-3439
yuchen@umd.edu

In the past, most of the biological information could only be obtained by in vitro analysis because sufficiently sensitive molecular probes for in vivo imaging of individual molecules were not available. Recently, newly developed molecular probes have made in vivo optical imaging of specific molecular targets, biological pathways and disease progress possible. In order to obtain information of specific targets, various approaches have been applied to sense difference of structures and functions. Similar to nuclear imaging, targeting moieties, such as peptides, proteins, antibodies, ligands or drug inhibitors, labeled with fluorochromes has been used to locate surface proteins, receptors and extracellular targets. In addition, novel enzyme-mediated imaging approaches have been developed to monitor disease-associated enzymes in vivo. Those probes were assembled with specially designed molecular switches which can only be turned on by specific enzymes leading to significant changes in fluorescence intensity or emission spectrum. The developed imaging approaches might revolutionize current procedures in disease detection, screening, diagnosis, drug development and treatment evaluation. For example, in micro-metastatic tumor and atherosclerosis, the molecular optical probes could report abnormality before it is noticeable to naked eyes or current imaging technologies. This information will allow physicians to treat diseases early or even prevent it from happening. In many chronic diseases, it usually takes several months to years to realize the treatment effect. However, using the imaging technology the therapeutic response could be evaluated within days or even hours. Physicians could adjust their prescriptions immediately based on individual's response.

Audience: Graduate  Faculty  Post-Docs 

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