Research Information
Research Interests
Molecular imaging, defined as the in vivo characterization of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level, is an attempt to image the molecular make-up of the macrofeatures currently visualized using "classical" diagnostic imaging techniques. Traditionally, detection of malignant tumor cells in a background of normal or hyperplastic benign tissue is often based on differences in physical properties between tissues, which are frequently minimal, resulting in low contrast resolution. By exploiting the developing genomic knowledge of cancer, we can identify bio-markers that are diagnostic of cancer and use these to perform molecular imaging. Our lab has significant effort in developing these bio-markers for molecular imaging of breast and prostate cancer during surgery.
Research Projects
My laboratory concentrates on research related to the development and application of Molecular Imaging technologies. Specifically, we are interested in designing novel imaging tools to image individual and multiple molecular markers of disease. We believe that imaging tissues based on underlying molecular rather than macromolecular differences will result in a substantial increase in the sensitivity and specificity of medical imaging. Some areas of active research include: the development of bio-marker targeted radiosensitizers to MR image and sensitize diseased tissue to radiation therapy; the development of bio-marker targeted fluorescence imaging agents to aid in visualization of cancer during surgery resulting in more complete resection of tumors; the development of bio-marker targeted fluorescence combination agents suitable to guide surgery and deliver therapy; the development of paradigms to image multiple markers of disease simultaneously; the development of bio-maker targeted radio ligand therapy (RLT) to combat metastatic disease in prostate and breast cancer; and the development of theranostic agents for therapeutic intervention into cancer and stimulation of the immune system to attack cancer.
Awards and Honors
Professional Memberships
Publications
Shirke AA, Wang J, Ramamurthy G, Mahanty A, Walker E, Zhang L, Panigrahi A, Wang X, Basilion JP. Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen Expression in a Syngeneic Breast Cancer Mouse Model. Mol Imaging Biol. 2024 Aug;26(4):714-728. doi: 10.1007/s11307-024-01920-2. Ep
Li H, Luo D, Yuan C, Wang X, Wang J, Basilion JP, Meade TJ. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of PSMA-Positive Prostate Cancer by a Targeted and Activatable Gd(III) MR Contrast Agent. J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Oct 20;143(41):17097-17108. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c07377. Epub 2021 Oct 6. PMID: 34612645.
Hernandez C , Abenojar EC , Hadley J , de Leon AC , Coyne R , Perera R , Gopalakrishnan R , Basilion JP , Kolios MC , Exner AA . Sink or float? Characterization of shell-stabilized bulk nanobubbles using a resonant mass measurement technique. Nanoscale. 2019 Jan 17;11(3):851-855. doi: 10.1039/c8nr08763f. PMID: 30601524; PMCID: PMC6350620.
Walker E, Liu Y, Kim I, Biro M, Iyer SR, Ezaldein H, Scott J, Merati M, Mistur R, Zhou B, Straight B, Yim JJ, Bogyo M, Mann M, Wilson DL, Basilion JP, Popkin DL. A Protease-Activated Fluorescent Probe Allows Rapid Visualization of Keratinocyte Carcinoma during Excision. Cancer Res. 2020 May 15;80(10):2045-2055. doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-19-3067. Epub 2020 Mar 4. PMID: 32132111; PMCID: PMC7231632.
Luo D, Wang X, Zeng S, Ramamurthy G, Burda C, Basilion JP. Prostate-specific membrane antigen targeted gold nanoparticles for prostate cancer radiotherapy: does size matter for targeted particles? Chem Sci. 2019 Jul 18;10(35):8119-8128. doi: 10.1039/c9sc02290b. PMID: 31588336; PMCID: PMC6764472.
Wang X, Luo D, Basilion JP. Photodynamic Therapy: Targeting Cancer Biomarkers for the Treatment of Cancers. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Jun 15;13(12):2992. doi: 10.3390/cancers13122992. PMID: 34203805; PMCID: PMC8232794.