2013 MIPS News

Fanny Chapelin Received France "Best Engineer of the Year" Award

December 4, 2013
Out of a national selection among thousands of engineers, Fanny Chapelin , was awarded the France "Best Engineer of the Year" award, in the category of "science" organized by L'Usine Nouvelle and Industry & Technology. The purpose of this award is to promote engineering studies and show it's diversity in applications and to encourage future generations to pursue careers in science by recognizing great French scientists. The last round of selection was based on a five page dissertation about a project the engineer pursued in the past years and what impact it will have for people. Fanny's dissertation discussed a new in vivo stem cell labeling technique for tracking stem cells after transplantation that's ready for the clinics.

Brief description of the project:
"Our new method addresses an important bottleneck for safe clinical translation of novel stem cell therapies. Transplanted stem cells need to be tracked in vivo in order to ensure safe deposition and lack of tumor formation. However, previously applied labeling procedures of stem cells with contrast agents or radiotracers required stem cell manipulations between their harvest and transplantation, which poses risks of contaminations and biological alterations of the cells. We present a novel approach of "in vivo" stem cell labeling, which relies on a simple parenteral administration of an FDA-approved iron supplement 1-2 days before a planned harvest of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) from bone marrow. Our data show that the iron compound is taken up by MSC, is retained in MSC through harvesting and ex vivo expansion procedures and that it allows for sensitive in vivo stem cell tracking with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of "in vivo" stem cell labeling with an immediately clinically applicable iron supplement. This approach could be immediately translated to the clinic and could be widely utilized to track MSC transplants in various target organs of patients."

Fanny was the youngest ever nominated, the only woman nominated and the only award winning woman.

Congratulations, Fanny!

Read the L'Usine Nouvelle article 
Read the Industry & Technology article 
Read the Radiology paper 
Read the Stanford Medicine article 
Read the Stanford Scope article

MIPS Research Featured on NanoLetters Cover

November 22, 2013
The journal NanoLetters featured the collaborative work from the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL) and the Jelena Vuckovic Lab on their cover. The article is entitled, "Single-Cell Photonic Nanocavity Probes ".

Read the NanoLetters article 
View the NanoLetters cover

MIPS Research Featured on CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians Cover

Laboratory Protocols Electronic Textbook is now Available

November 5, 2013
"Laboratory Protocols - A Collection of Cell Tracking Protocols for Imaging and Stem Cell Researchers " is an electronic textbook by Fanny Chapelin , Graham Beck , Olga Lenkov , Heike Daldrup-link that explains how to perform cell extraction, cell culture, histology and staining protocols. The eBook is enhanced with many visual and video tutorials, showing the procedures step by step for better understanding.

REQUIREMENTS
To view this book, you must have an iOS device with iBooks 3 or later and iOS 5.1 or later, or a Mac with iBooks 1.0 or later and OS X 10.9 or later.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD TO YOUR IPAD
Download the free iBooks App onto your iPad. Go to Store, and search by Author ('Chapelin'), or Book Title.

Visit iTunes for More Information

Dr. Keu Received 2013 World Molecular Imaging Congress Young Investigator Award

October 14, 2013
Khun Visith Keu, MD, a member of the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) , received the Young Investigator Award at the 2013 World Molecular Imaging Congress for his article, "Imaging of Cytolytic T-Cells Therapy in Recurrent Glioma Patients using a PET Reporter Gene/Probe Strategy"

Congratulations, Keu!

Dr. Palner Nominated for 2013 World Molecular Imaging Congress Young Investigator Award

October 14, 2013
Mikael Palner, PhD , a member of the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Laboratory (CMIL) , was nominated for the Young Investigator Award at the 2013 World Molecular Imaging Congress for his article, "Polymer nanoparticle with persistent near-infrared luminescence shows potential for in vivo imaging"

Congratulations, Mikael!

2013 World Molecular Imaging Congress Award Recipients

October 14, 2013
Congratulations to the following WMIC award recipients:

Sunitha Bachawal - Travel Award, "Improved Diagnostic Accuracy of Ultrasound for Early Breast Cancer Detection using VEGFR2-targeted Contrast Microbubbles in a Transgenic Mouse Model"

Sarah Bohndiek, PhD - Travel Award, "Photoacoustic molecular imaging and serum diagnostics rapidly detect response to anti-angiogenic therapy in ovarian cancer"

Colin Carpenter, PhD - Poster Award, "FDG PET-enhances Cerenkov Surgical Image-Guidance"

Carmel Chan, PhD - Poster Award, "High Resolution Imaging of Apoptosis within a Murine Lymph Node and Spleen in Living Mice using A Novel Self-assembling Caspase-3 Sensitive Probe"

Fanny Chapelin, PhD - Travel Award, "In vivo iron loading of stem cells before their harvest enables MRI tracking after transplantation"

Kai Cheng, PhD - Travel Award, "Engineering Colloidal Hybrid Nanostructures as Multimodal Contrast Agents for Cancer Imaging in Living Subjects"

Christopher Dove - Travel Award, "Creating novel imaging tools to diagnose stem cell rejection in vivo"

Aileen Hoehne, PhD - Travel Award, "A novel approach to image multiple sclerosis by PET"

Ohad Ilovich, PhD - Travel Award, "Novel Engineered Immuno-PET Tracers as Companion Diagnostics for Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapy"

Michelle James, PhD - Travel Award & First Place Poster Award, "Imaging microglial activation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease using [18F]PBR06-PET/MRI and ex vivo autoradiography"

Jesse Jokerst, PhD - Travel Award, "A Novel Biodegradable Nanoparticle for Enhanced Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging"

Christopher Klenk, PhD - Travel Award, "Novel Nanoparticle Enhanced Whole Body Tumor Scans for Staging of Children with Cancer"

Ferdinand Knieling, MD - Travel Award, "Inflammation Quantification in a Chronic and Acute on Chronic Murine Model of Inflammatory Bowel Disease using Ultrasound Molecular Imaging"

Frederick Lartey, PhD - Travel Award, "Longitudinal [18F]PBR06 PET imaging indicates an inverse relationship between microglial activation and motor function during stroke-induced neuroinflammation in mice"

Steven Machtaler, PhD - Travel Award, "Ultrasound molecular imaging of the vascular activation marker Thy1 for the detection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma in an orthotopic murine xenograft model"

Hossein Nejadnik, PhD - Travel Award, "Novel Approach for Chondrogenic differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells"

Mikael Palner, PhD - Travel Award, "Polymer nanoparticle with persistent near-infrared luminescence shows potential for in vivo imaging"

Kanyi Pu, PhD - Travel Award, "Semiconducting polymer nanoparticle as photoacoustic molecular imaging probes in living mice"

John Ronald, PhD - Travel Award, "A Novel Strategy for PET Imaging of Graft Versus Host Disease in Living Subjects"

Laura Sasportas, PhD - Travel Award, "Detection and quantitation of circulating tumor cells by bioluminescence imaging in an orthotopic mammary carcinoma model"

Bryan Smith - Travel Award, "Prediction of lymphoma drug response via integration of molecular imaging and computational modeling"

Sui-Seng Tee, PhD - Travel Award & Poster Award, "Detection of PKM2 Activator Treatment Response in Tumor Cells using Hyperpolarized Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy"

Thillai Veerapazham, PhD - Travel Award, "Degron Based Protease Blockade Sensor to Image Histone Mehtylation"

Huaijun Wang, PhD - Travel Award, "Ultrasound Molecular Imaging Using a Dual-Selectin Targeted Contrast Agent versus FDG PET-CT Imaging for Assessment of Inflammation in a Murine Inflammatory Bowel Disease Model"

Tzu Yin Wang, PhD - Travel Award, "Optimizing acoustic cavitation for ultrasound-microbubble-mediated delivery of PLGA nanoparticles into tumors: phantom study and preliminary in vivo results"

Katheryne Wilson, PhD - Travel Award, "Spectroscopic Photoacoustic Imaging of Focal Breast Lesions in a Transgenic Mouse Model"

Deju Ye, PhD - Travel Award, "Controlled in situ nano-aggregation of caspase-3/7 activatable fluorescent and MRI probes for dual-modality imaging of tumor cell death"

Raiyan Zaman, PhD - Travel Award, "Fiber-Optic Catheter System for Dual Optical Imaging of Glucose Probes (18F-FDG and 6-NBDG) in Atherosclerotic Plaques"

MIPS Interdisciplinary Team Creates Smart Nanoparticles for Cancer Therapy

October 9, 2013
A new cancer-fighting construct was created as a result of a collaboration between two MIPS teams led by a physician-scientist Heike E. Daldrup-Link and a chemist Jianghong Rao . Combining expertise in clinical imaging with magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) and chemical synthesis of NPs respectively, their teams developed a new "smart" NPs that selectively kills cancer without affecting healthy cells. The leading authors of the study that was published online in Small are Celina Ansari, MD (pictured left) and Grigory Tikhomirov, PhD (right), both postdoctoral fellows at MIPS.

These Theranostic nanoparticles combine diagnostics and therapeutic properties of superparamagnetic iron oxide NPs and attached to it activatable prodrug respectively. This tumor specific drug release allows to reduce side-effects of cancer therapy. The magnetic core of the nanoparticles allows for monitoring their distribution in the body.

Read the Small article
Read the Stanford Scope article

MIPS Research Featured on the Cover of the Journal Angewandte Chemie

September 23, 2013
Drs. Jianghong Rao and Frederick T. Chin have collaborated to develop a novel strategy for amplifying the PET signal at the site of cell apoptosis. This work has been published in the journal Angewandte Chemie and also been featured as an inside cover .

Read the Angewandte Chemie article
View the Angewandte Chemie cover

Saeed Mohammadi Received 2013 BioNanotechnology Summer Institute Best Poster Award

August 8, 2013
Saeed Mohammadi , a postdoctoral fellow in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) , received a "Best Poster Award" for the collaborative poster, "Integrated Field Effect Sensor Array for Profiling of miRNA/OncoMIRs" at the 2013 BioNanotechnology Summer Institute at University of Illinoise at Urbana-Champaign.

Congratulations, Saeed!

Michelle James Received Travel Fellowship

July 19, 2013
Michelle James, PhD , a member of the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab , received a Travel Fellowship for the 2013 Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC) in Boston from July 13-18, 2013 for her abstract, "Imaging microglial activation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease using PET/MRI and ex vivo autoradiography."

Congratulations, Michelle!

MIPS Research on Tracking Transplanted Stems Cells Received Media Coverage

MIPS Collaboration Publishes a New Article in PNAS

July 8, 2013
The article, "A single-photon sampling architecture for solid-state imaging sensors ," has been published in the July 15th early edition issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The article represents a culmination of work that was performed in collaboration with the Molecular Imaging Instrumentation Laboratory (MIIL) and the lab of Emmanuel Candes in the Departments of Mathematics and Statistics. The article reports on the first application of concepts of "Compressed Sensing" to the field of positron emission tomography (PET).

Read the PNAS paper

Raiyan Zaman Awarded AHA Fellowship

July 1, 2013
Raiyan T. Zaman, PhD , was awarded an American Heart Association WSA Winter 2013 Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct independent research on, "Intravascular Molecular Imaging System to Characterize Coronary Plaque," as a Principal Investigator (July 2013- June 2015). Only 32 people got the grant out of 184 applicants and got a priority score of 1.4 which is considered "excellent" ("1" = highest and "5" = lowest score).

Congratulations, Raiyan!

Molecular Imaging Primer Electronic Textbook is now Available

June 15, 2013
The Molecular Imaging Primer is an electronic textbook by Sanjiv Sam Gambhir that introduces clinicians and researchers to the expanding field of Molecular Imaging (MI) of living subjects. Students at all levels (e.g., undergraduates, graduates, medical students, residents, post-doctoral fellows, as well as research scientists) who are entering the field, or are already in the field but needing a booster shot, should find this book useful. Where past imaging was directed at the gross physical and anatomical levels, MI is shifting imaging to the molecular and cellular levels, opening up new pathways of discovery to expand MI applications in basic science research, and clinical diagnosis and treatment. Not available in print, this eBook is exclusively available on the iPad.

  • Released for the First Time after 5 Years of Development
  • Designed Specifically for the iPad from the Ground Up
  • Written as a Textbook that Can be Used in Classes or Labs
  • Contains 492 pages with over 100 Illustrations, 55 Imaging Examples, 49 Clinical Examples, and 164 Probe Structures
  • Zoom to Full-Screen by tapping any Figure, Illustration, Movie, or Probe
  • Fully Linked References take you Directly to PubMed
  • Fully Searchable for any Word throughout the Book
  • Multiple Choice Questions with Answers that can be Checked in Real Time
  • Ability to Take your own Electronic Notes
  • A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Section with Answers that Should be Helpful to Individuals New to the Field
  • Dedicated Section for Industry-Related Links to Websites of Companies Involved in all Aspects of Molecular Imaging
  • Quick Navigation throughout Book via Table of Contents (TOC) and In-Text Links
  • Will Electronically Update Periodically Keeping the Book Current

REQUIREMENTS
This eBook can only be viewed on an iPad using iBooks 2 or later. iOS 5 or later is required. Optimized for iPad 3 with retina display.

HOW TO DOWNLOAD TO YOUR IPAD
Download the free iBooks App onto your iPad. Go to Store, and search by either ISBN ('9780989541404'), or Author ('Gambhir'), or Book Title. Click 'Sample' to download free preview. Click 'Buy' to purchase (Apple ID required).

Visit iTunes for More Information

2013 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Award Recipients

June 13, 2013
Congratulations to the 2013 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging award recipients:

Julie Kulm - Poster Award (2), "Utilizing SPECT/CT to improve small bowel transit studies" and "Development of a reproducible FDG PET/CT cardiac imaging protocol for the evaluation of cardiac sarcoidosis".

Bin Shen - Scientific Poster Award Finalist, "Preclinical Imaging with [18F]Fluorobisphenol-A".

2013 Korean Society of Ultrasound in Medicine Award Recipients

May 25, 2013
Congratulations to the 44th Annual Congress of Korean Society of Ultrasound in Medicine (KSUM Open 2013) award recipients:

Sunitha Bachawal - Poster Award, "Early Breast Cancer Detection with VEGFR2-targeted Ultrasound Molecular Imaging in a Transgenic Mouse Model".

Steven Machtaler - Young Investigator Award, "Imaging Small Pancreatic Tumors Using VEGFR2-Targeted Ultrasound Molecular Imaging".

Steven Machtaler - Poster Award, "Identification and Utilization of the Vascular Activation Marker Thy1(CD90) for the Detection of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma in an Orthotopic Murine Xenograft Model using Ultrasound Molecular Imaging".

Huaijun (Morgan) Wang, MD, PhD - Scientific Merit Award, "Ultrasound Molecular Imaging using a Dual-Selectin Targeted Contrast Agent versus FDG PET-CT Imaging for Assessment of Inflammation in a Murine Inflammatory Bowel Disease Model".

20th International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Award Recipients

May 18, 2013
Congratulations to the 2013 20th International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (Jeju, Korea) award recipients:

Jongho Jeon - Travel Award, "Synthesis and Initial Evaluation of [18F]CAIP for PET imaging of Caspase-3 Activity in Apoptosis Models" and "An efficient and site-specific 18F-labeling of biomolecules using a novel prosthetic group 18F-Cyanobenzothiazole ([18F]CBT)".

Bin Shen - Travel Award, "[18F]CAIP: A Smart PET Tracer for Imaging Caspase-3 induced Apoptosis" and "Improved [18F]FEAU Radiosynthesis on Different Automated Radiochemistry Platforms".

MIPS Research on Tracking Cell Interactions In Vivo Received Media Attention

May 15, 2013
Collaboration between the Molecular Biophotonics and Imaging Lab (MBIL) and the Wandless Lab have developed a new technique to image where in the body metastatic cancer cells ended up after they broke off from an initial tumor site. The research was published in PNAS and has received news coverage in Stanford Medicine, Phys.org and ScienceDaily.

Read the PNAS paper
Read the Stanford School of Medicine article
Read the Phys.org article
Read the ScienceDaily article

Dr. de la Zerda Featured in Nature

April 19, 2013
Dr. Adam de la Zerda , has been interviewed by Nature and featured in the April 18, 2013 issue (volume 496) of the journal.

Read the Nature Article

Dr. Levi's Photoacoustic Imaging Research Highlighted in Clinical Cancer Research

April 10, 2013
Dr. Jelena Levi , Director of the Chemistry Core at the Canary Center at Stanford and member of the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) , has a paper on photoacoustic imaging of the thyroid gland published in Clinical Cancer Research which was highlighted in the journal.

Read the Clinical Cancer Research highlight
Read the Clinical Cancer Research paper

Research on Imaging Therapeutic Stem Cells Received Media Coverage

March 21, 2013
A new paper from the Gambhir Lab by Dr. Jokerst entitled, "Intracellular Aggregation of Multimodal Silica Nanoparticles for Ultrasound-Guided Stem Cell Implantation in Living Mice," has been published in Science Translational Medicine. The research details the use of nanoparticles to facilitate the initial placement of therapeutic stem cells into the host and the ability to track those cells over time. The paper has received news coverage in Stanford Medicine, ArsTechnica, Fox News, MIT Technology Review, MedCity News, and redOrbit.

Read the Science Translational Medicine paper
Read the Stanford School of Medicine article
Read the ArsTechnica article
Read the Fox News article
Read the MedCity News article
Read the MIT Technology Review article
Read the redOrbit article

Dr. Lutz Received First-Time Genitourinary Paper Presenter Award

March 3, 2013
Amelie M. Lutz received the First-Time Genitourinary Paper Presenter Award at the 2013 Society of Abdominal Radiology for the study, "Molecular Ultrasound of Ovarian Cancer Targeting the Novel Vascular Cancer Marker CD276". Coauthors: Amelie M. Lutz ; Sunitha Bachawal; Charles Drescher ; Juergen K. Willmann ; Sanjiv S. Gambhir

Congratulations, Dr. Lutz!

Stanford Collaboration Leads to a Novel Bioprobe

Credit: Gary Shambat February 26, 2013
Collaboration between the School of Engineering and School of Medicine leads to a novel Bioprobe that fits in a single cell. The labs of Drs. Jelena Vuckovic and Sam Gambhir have collaborated to develop a new strategy that has recently been published in Nano Letters and was covered in Stanford News , ScienceDaily , IEEE Spectrum and Popular Science . Drs. Gary Shambat and Raj Kothapalli worked together to make this exciting work possible . The work will also be featured on the cover in an upcoming issue of the printed version of the journal Nano Letters.

Read the Nano Letters article
Read the Stanford News
Read the ScienceDaily article
Read the IEEE Spectrum article
Read the Popular Science article