Seminar

Boramino Acid as A Cancer Marker for PET Imaging

Speaker: Zhibo Liu, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

Time: 3:30pm (Tuesday)  April 12nd , 2016

Venue: Rm. 311, New Life Sciences Building

What is PET?

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a non-invasive molecular imaging technique that visualizes and quantifies biological processes in the living body via specific radiolabeled molecules (also called PET ligand or biomarker).

Why we need a PET biomarker?

Early detection of disease and monitoring the response of therapy;

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profiling of drug candidates;

Stratifying patients based on potential of treatment efficacy and/or disease sub-pheno/genotype.

What I do?

A broadly applicable labeling platform to introduce radioisotope (e.g. 18F) into molecules of interests (peptide, oligonucleotide, protein, antibody and etc.);

Development and transition of PET biomarkers for new biological/drug targets into clinical use;

Reinvent amino acid to serve as general PET imaging probe for clinical cancer diagnosis.

More about Boramino Acid (BAA)

Amino acid transporters (AATs) are a series of integral channels for uphill cellular uptake of nutrients and neuro- transmitters. Abnormal expression of AATs is often associated with cancer, addiction, and multiple mental dis- eases. Although methods to evaluate in vivo expression of AATs would be highly useful, efforts to develop them have been hampered by a lack of appropriate tracers. We describe a new class of AA mimics—boramino acids (BAAs)—that can serve as general imaging probes for AATs. The structure of a BAA is identical to that of the corresponding natural AA, except for an exotic replacement of the carboxylate with -BF3−. Cellular studies demonstrate strong AAT-mediated cell uptake, and animal studies show high tumor-specific accumulation, suggesting that BAAs hold great promise for the development of new imaging probes and smart AAT-targeting drugs.

Welcome!