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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Diego Dumani
PhD Proposal Presentation
Date: September 25th, 2017
Time: 10 am
Location: Engineered Biosystems EBB 4029
Committee members:
Stanislav Emelianov, PhD (Advisor)
Francisco Robles, PhD
Brooks Lindsey, PhD
Lily Yang, PhD
Baowei Fei, PhD
Comprehensive diagnosis and therapy monitoring of breast cancer using photoacoustic imaging and multifunctional nanoparticles
Despite advances in prevention, detection and treatment of cancer, this disease remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. Although mortality rates have decreased over the last two decades, efforts to achieve comprehensive diagnoses and effective treatments encounter obstacles due to lack of technology or excessive morbidity. Furthermore, there is a need to monitor treatment outcomes, in order to adapt therapies to patient-specific responses. The goal of the proposed work is to design a comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic approach for cancerous lesions using ultrasound and photoacoustic (US/PA) imaging, augmented with nanoparticle contrast agents. Specifically, the work evaluates the use of US/PA imaging for lymph node metastasis detection in breast cancer murine models. Additionally, US/PA is used as a temperature monitoring tool during photothermal therapy, and serves to monitor treatment outcome and molecular changes due to targeted therapy. In this study, the interaction of multi-functional nanoparticles in tumor environments are explored to elucidate valid diagnostic approaches and optimal therapeutic dosages. In vitro and in vivo imaging studies will be performed to validate this multi-functional technique. Overall, the approach is expected to identify cancer based on functional and molecular changes, and allow for monitoring during treatments such as molecular therapy and photothermal therapy.
