DF/HCC Program Affiliation

Cancer Imaging
Breast Cancer

Research Abstract

The main direction of the PI and associated laboratory is the development of novel optical imaging and spectral techniques that allow non-invasive or minimally invasively interrogations of function and gene-expression in tissues in-vivo. Our particular focus is the development of tomographic techniques for fluorescence imaging in whole tissues, intact animals and organs. This technology, combined with appropriate fluorescent probes or fluorescent proteins can enable molecular probing of disease and function and elucidate genomics and proteomics in vivo. It is expected that fluorescence molecular imaging will enable detection and characterization of disease states even before anatomic changes become apparent. It could also revolutionarize drug discovery and development by real-time in-vivo monitoring of drug effects at the molecular level in intact tissues. Particular applications are investigations of cancer growth and reponse to treatment (apoptosis) with focus on breast and lung cancers. More recent applications focus on in-vivo imaging of immunology responses and of viral transfection via the use of fluorescent proteins.

Publications

• Meyer H, Garofalakis A, Zacharakis G, Psycharakis S, Mamalaki C, Kioussis D, Economou EN, Ntziachristos V, Ripoll J.Noncontact optical imaging in mice with full angular coverage and automatic surface extraction.Appl Opt 2007 Jun 10;46(17):3617-27.
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• Garofalakis A, Zacharakis G, Meyer H, Economou EN, Mamalaki C, Papamatheakis J, Kioussis D, Ntziachristos V, Ripoll J.Three-dimensional in vivo imaging of green fluorescent protein-expressing T cells in mice with noncontact fluorescence molecular tomograp
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• Zacharakis G, Shih H, Ripoll J, Weissleder R, Ntziachristos V.Normalized transillumination of fluorescent proteins in small animals.Mol Imaging 2006 Jul;5(3):153-9.
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• Ntziachristos V, Schellenberger EA, Ripoll J, Yessayan D, Graves E, Bogdanov A. Jr., Josephson L, Weissleder R.Visualization of antitumor treatment by means of fluorescence molecular tomography with an annexin V–Cy5.5 conjugate.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 20
• Ripoll J, Schultz R., Ntziachristos V.Free-space propagation of diffuse light: Theory and Experiments.Phys Rev Lett 2003;91(10):103901-1-4.
• Weissleder R, Ntziachristos V.Shedding light onto live molecular targets.Nat Med 2003;9:123-128.
• Ntziachristos V, Tung CH, Bremer C, Weissleder R,.Fluorescence-mediated tomography resolves protease activity in vivo.Nat Med 2002;8(7):757-760.