Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Lin Li
Friday, March 30, 2012
11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Room 1200 Jeong H. Kim Engineering Bldg.
Professor Silvia Muro
muro@umd.edu
Imaging Tumor Microenvironment, Redox State, and Metastatic Potential
Lin Li
Assistant Professor
Radiology/Biochemistry and Biophysics
University of Pennsylvania
Differentiation of metastatic tumors from indolent ones is one of the most important issues in clinical cancer management. Tissue/cell microenvironment and metabolism have been implicated as important factors in tumor progression to metastasis. My research aims to understand tumor progression by imaging tumor microenvironment and redox state and identify imaging biomarkers that can predict the tumor metastatic potential. We have utilized a set of NMR/optical imaging methods, including DCE-MRI, proton-exchange sensitive MRI (T1rho- and CEST-MRI), hyperpolarized 13C-NMR, and NADH/flavoprotein fluorescence imaging (redox scanning)-to study mouse models of human cancer with various aggressiveness. In this talk I will present the results on mouse models of human melanoma, breast cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic premalignancy and biopsy samples from breast cancer patients. Our studies provide evidences for the novel connection between mitochondrial redox state and tumor metastatic potential.
About the Speaker
Dr. Lin Z. Li is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also a member of the Institute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics and the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a broad range of training in physics, biophysics, biochemistry, NMR imaging and spectroscopy, optical imaging, and translational cancer research. During his PhD thesis work (advisor: Dr. John Leigh), he has developed original NMR methods for magnetic susceptibility quantification and high precision magnetic field/temperature mapping. Since 2004, with Drs. Jerry Glickson and Britton Chance as his mentors, Dr. Li has been studying cancer progression employing NMR/optical imaging/spectroscopy to identify imaging biomarkers for tumor metastatic potential. Dr. Li is a recipient of the Career Catalyst Research Award from Susan G. Komen Research Foundation in 2008 and a R01 on imaging breast cancer starting from 2011. He has served as the Guest Editor of the Journal of Innovative Optical Health Sciences in 2011 and is currently an Executive Board Member of the International Society of Oxygen Transport to Tissue.
