IGERT Nanomedicine E-Lecture

Date: 11/15/2011
Time: 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Location: 408 Ell Hall
Speaker: Amit Joshi, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Radiology, Baylor College of Medicine

Title: Simultaneous Imaging and Therapy of Cancer with Multimodal Nanoparticles

Abstract: Primary treatment for cancer includes surgery accompanied with systemically cytotoxic chemotherapy and/or locally cytotoxic radiation treatment, which do not cure the disease completely, and relapsed disease is frequently fatal. In recent years multiple molecular signatures of cancer have been identified, but molecularly directed therapies such as Herceptin for breast cancer, can still fail due to de novo or acquired drug resistance. Alternative cancer treatment based on photothermal response of gold nanostructures engineered to absorb tissue penetrating NIR light has exhibited near 100% efficacy for tumor eradication in animal models, and is a promising addition to the arsenal of clinical therapies for cancer. We have developed a new class of multimodal silica-gold nanostructures, which in addition to providing photothermal therapy, allow for highly sensitive NIR fluorescence imaging, and T2 weighted MR imaging, thus enabling direct visualization of systemically administered nanoparticles in tissue, for better guidance of thermal therapy. In this talk, the multimodal nanostructure design, and applications for breast and pancreatic cancer theranostics will be described.

Bio: Amit Joshi is an Assistant Professor of Radiology with joint appointment in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. He also holds an adjunct appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. Amit’s research integrates methods of biophotonics with nanophotonics based multimodal molecular imaging and therapies. Amit’s main research activities are focused towards the simultaneous imaging and external field modulated therapy of cancer. Currently, he is conducting Federally sponsored research on the cross-platform implementation of particle transport simulation tools derived from nuclear research towards fluorescence imaging in mice models of human disease. He is also working on breast and pancreatic cancer theranostics with multimodal gold nanostructures, which dramatically enhance the NIR fluorescence of FDA cleared fluorescence agents, while providing a strong MR contrast. He obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Texas A & M University in 2005, followed by a two-year research position at Baylor, before starting a tenure-track appointment in Radiology.