BME Colloquium Series: Rebekah Drezek, Ph.D.

Optically Activatable Nanoparticles for Targeted Imaging and Therapy of Cancer

This seminar will overview research underway in our laboratory to develop optically activatable nanoparticles for molecular targeted integrated imaging and therapy of cancer. The seminar will describe how our concept of what makes a nanoparticle “active” has evolved over the past five years illustrating this evolution through a series of case studies involving several types of progressively complicated engineered nanostructures. Platform technology systems to be discussed will include core-shell and multi-layered gold nanostructures for scatter-based imaging and photothermal therapy of cancer, enzyme activatable quantum dot probes, and a siRNA-based molecular beacon whose optical response is activated upon binding sequence specific mRNA while mediating RNA interference. The seminar will emphasize the opportunities photonics-based imaging modalities offer in optimizing the diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy of engineered nanomaterials in vivo.