Speaker:Dr. Guanshu Liu(John Hopkins University)
Time:2:00pm, April 12th
Place:conference room #201
Title:CEST, a new class of MRI contrast agents for molecular and cellular imaging
Abstract:Advanced medical imaging is central for addressing the major challenges in 21st medicine, thus is called “core interdisciplinary science”. The advances in imaging science rely on the development of novel imaging technologies beyond the state of the art. Recently Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) imaging has emerged as a novel MRI contrast strategy in molecular and cellular imaging. Compared to traditional T1 (e.g. Gd-DTPA or Mn2+) and T2 (e.g. SPIO) contrast agents, CEST is of great interest for its capability of being ‘switchable’ (multi-spectra imaging), ‘multi-color’ (simultaneous detection of multiple agents) and ‘smart’ (responsive to numerous biological events). In this talk, a simple overview of the principle and implementation of CEST MRI will be first given, together with some examples of early success. Then this talk will focus on introducing several recent developments in our laboratory, i.e. applying diamagnetic CEST agents to clinic relevant biomedical applications such as trafficking of CEST agent encapsulated liposomes for drug delivery and detecting gene expression and enzymatic activity in gene therapy.