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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
BME PhD Defense Presentation
Date: Friday, November 2nd, 2018
Time: 2 pm
Location: IBB 1128 (Suddath room)
Committee members:
Stanislav Emelianov, PhD (Advisor)
Francisco Robles, PhD
Brooks Lindsey, PhD
Lily Yang, PhD
Baowei Fei, PhD
Title:
Nanoparticle-Mediated Functional and Molecular Photoacoustic Imaging for Assessment of Metastatic Lymph Nodes
Abstract:
Despite advances in prevention, detection, and treatment of cancer, this disease remains the second leading cause of death in the United States. The majority of cancer related deaths are due to metastasis rather than primary tumors and, although mortality rates have decreased over the last two decades, efforts to achieve comprehensive diagnoses and effective treatments still encounter obstacles due to lack of technology or excessive morbidity. The goal of this project is to design a non‑invasive approach for the assessment of sentinel lymph node metastasis using ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging, augmented with contrast agents. The focus is two-fold: first, it evaluates contrast‑enhanced ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging to track functional and molecular changes of metastatic lymph nodes in relevant in vivo cancer models. Specifically, imaging of immune cell uptake and transport of lymphotropic nanoparticles to the sentinel lymph node, and imaging of clearable nanoparticles targeted to the epidermal growth factor receptor provide diagnostic information regarding metastatic nodal involvement. Then, it includes the design of contrast agents to solve challenges of the proposed techniques and augment therapeutic capabilities. Overall, the study is expected to help identify cancer based on functional and molecular changes, therefore augmenting and potentially replacing sentinel lymph node biopsy.
