Research Information
Research Interests
- Molecular imaging in neurological diseases and cancer
- Radiopharmaceuticals for PET
- Contrast agents for MRI
- Fluorescent probes for Optical Imaging
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Autism
- Drug discovery and development
Research Projects
Since 1998, Dr. Wang’s research has been focused on the development of molecular probes for imaging-guided diagnosis and efficacy evaluation of therapeutic treatments in neurological diseases and cancer, which are based on a variety of imaging modalities including positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multiphoton microscopy (SPECT), and near-infrared fluorescent imaging (NIRF). He has developed several imaging agents targeting some important pathological processes such as amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease and aging, myelin damage and repair in multiple sclerosis, DNA damage and repair as well as MET receptor expression in cancer. He was one of the joint inventors of PIB, an amyloid-imaging agent that has now been widely used in clinical trials worldwide. He is also noted for his work on longitudinal imaging of demyelination/remyelination based on multiple imaging modalities. As Director of Radiopharmaceutical Research at Case Western Reserve University, Dr. Wang provides radiolabeled agents for nuclear imaging.
Publications
Longitudinal positron emission tomography imaging for monitoring myelin repair in the spinal cord. Ann Neurol. Nov; 74(5):688-98, 2013 PMID: 23818306.
Design, Synthesis and Evaluation of Coumarin-based Molecular Probes for Imaging of Myelination, J Med Chem. Apr 14; 54(7): 2331–2340,2011
Longitudinal near-infrared imaging of myelination, Journal of Neuroscience 31(7):2382-2390, 2011.
A myelin-specific contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging of myelination. Journal of American Chemical Society, 133(6): 1611–1613, 2011.
In vivo positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) receptor., J. Med. Chem., 53(1), 139-146, 2010.