2014 MIPS News

Stanford Publishes First Clinical Paper Reporting the Use of Simultaneous PET/MRI with Time-of-flight Capability in Cancer Patients

December 23, 2014
A group of collaborators from MIPS, MRI and Nuclear Medicine sections in the Department of Radiology at Stanford University published the first clinical paper reporting the use of a novel simultaneous PET/MRI scanner with time-of-flight capability in cancer patients. Data was collected using a scanner produced by GE Healthcare and installed first worldwide at Stanford. The initial experience with this PET/MR system has shown that the TOF PET is capable of excellent performance during simultaneous PET/MR with routine pulse sequences. MR imaging was not compromised. This opens a new world of collaborations to advance science across multiple specialties. An image from this article is featured on the cover of the January 2015 issue of Clinical Nuclear Medicine (official journal of the American College of Nuclear Medicine).


New Study Imaging Alzheimers Disease Therapy Response Received Media Coverage

December 18, 2014
Michelle James, PhD, an Instructor in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL), presented research at the Society for Neuroscience meeting that used the PET imaging tracer [18F]GE-180 to image the effects of treatment with an investigational oral compound, LM11A-31, known to target the p75 neurotrophin receptor. In the studies [18F]GE-180 was able to detect a therapeutic effect in APP-transgenic mice treated with LM11A-31, demonstrating the potential of [18F]GE-180 to serve as a sensitive and accurate tool for monitoring response to therapies that attenuate microglial activation.

The research was highlighted in AlzForum and Neurology Today.


Laura Sasportas Received France "Best Engineer of the Year" Award

December 10, 2014
Out of a national selection among thousands of engineers, Laura Sasportas, PhD, was awarded the France "Best Engineer of the Year" award, in the category of "R&D" and also a "Special Jury Award" 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.

Congratulations, Laura!


Hossein Nejadnik Received 2014 RSNA Trainee Research Prize

December 8, 2014

Hossein Nejadnik, MD, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Daldrup-Link Lab, received a Trainee Research Prize from the 2014 RSNA Annual Meeting for the study, "Diagnosis of Stem Cell Apoptosis in Arthritic Joints with MRI".

The Trainee Prize was created in 1994 by the RSNA Program Committee to recognize the contribution of residents to the RSNA Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting. In later years it was expanded to include fellows and medical students and in 2005 was renamed Trainee Research Prize.

Congratulations, Hossein!


Dr. Gambhir Named Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

November 26, 2014
Please join us in congratulating Department Chair Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir who has been named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow. This honor is bestowed on AAAS members by their peers for meritorious efforts to advance science or its applications.

The accomplishments of the new Fellows will be celebrated at the 2015 AAAS Annual Meeting, convening this year under the theme "Innovations, Information, and Imaging." At the Annual Meeting, the new Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, 14 February from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the AAAS Fellows Forum in San Jose, California.


Katheryne Wilson Awarded WMIC 2015 Henzl-Gabor Travel Grant

November 24, 2014
Katheryne Wilson, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS) program, has been awarded a travel grant by the Helena Anna Henzi-Gabor Young Women in Science Fund, for Postdoctoral Scholars. This award allows Dr. Wilson to attend the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC), in Honolulu, Hawaii, September 2015.

Congratulations, Katheryne!


Huaijun (Morgan) Wang Awarded RSNA 2014 Travel Grant

November 20, 2014
Huaijun (Morgan) Wang, PhD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), has been awarded a travel grant to attend the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Annual Meeting, in Chicago, IL, December 2014.

Congratulations, Morgan!


MIPS Research Featured in the Journal of the American Chemical Society Spotlight and Nature SciBx

November 10, 2014
Transferring biomarker into molecular probe: melanin nanoparticle as a naturally active platform for multimodality imaging" by Quli Fan, PhD, et al. from the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Lab was highlighted by JACS Spotlights and Nature SciBx.


Dan Feng Awarded TRAM Grant

August 27, 2014
Dan Feng, a Stanford medical student in the Daldrup-Link lab has been awarded aTranslational Research and Applied Medicine (TRAM) Program grant for her research proposal, "Evaluate Safety of Ferumoxytol for MR Imaging in Children and Young Adults".

TRAM was established to provide an infrastructure to rapidly translate novel genomic/proteomic, nanoscale and imaging research discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic and facilitate bench-to-bedside development of cellular therapies.

Congratulations, Dan!


Laura Sarah Sasportas, PhD, Received the Young Investigator Award at 2014 SNMMI

June 9, 2014
Laura Sarah Sasportas, PhD , a member of the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) , received a First Place at the Nuclear Oncology Young Investigator Award symposium at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) annual conference in St. Louis, Mo.

Her abstract, "Single cell metabolomics in circulating tumor cells," evaluates glucose metabolism of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) by measuring the 18-FDG uptake of single metastatic CTCs using 2 novels methods recently developed: Radioluminescence Microscopy (RLM)[5] and Single-Cell Autoradiography (SCAR).


Ophir Vermesh Awarded 2014 Dean's Fellowship

May 22, 2014
Ophir Vermesh, MD, PhD , from the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Laboratory (MMIL) , received the 2014 Dean's Fellowship Award.

Congratulations, Ophir!


MIPS Research Identifies More Efficient Cancer Drug Delivery Method


Michelle James Received First Prize at INMiND TSPO Symposium

April 24, 2014
Michelle James, PhD , Instructor of Radiology and Neurology and Neurological Sciences has received the First Prize Poster and Abstract Award at the INMiND TSPO Symposium on Microglia Imaging and Biology in Manchester, United Kingdom on April 24-25, 2014, for her abstract entitled "GE180-PET detects reduced microglia activation after LM11A-31 therapy in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease".

Congratulations, Dr. James!


MIPS Research Highlighted in Chemical and Engineering News Cover Story

April 1, 2014
The combined efforts from the Biswal, Chin, and DuBois Laboratories was highlighted in the recent cover story of the March 24, 2014 issue of "Chemical & Engineering News".


MIPS Research Featured in the Journal of the American Chemical Society Spotlight

March 24, 2014
The paper entitled "Construction and Validation of Nano Gold Tripods for Molecular Imaging of Living Subjects" by Kai Cheng, PhD, et al. from the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Lab was highlighted by JACS Spotlights (http://pubs.acs.org/toc/jacsat/current#Spotlights).


New MRI Technique Could Offer Radiation-free Alternative for Visualising Cancerous Tumours in Children

February 19, 2014
In The Lancet Oncology, our research team reports that a new whole body diffusion weighted MRI scanning technique, which uses an iron supplement (ferumoxytol) to enhance tumour visibility, is just as effective as PET/CT imaging in the detection of malignant tumors in pediatric patients, with comparable sensitivities, specificities, and diagnostic accuracy. Average exposure to ionising radiation was 12.5 mSv for 18F-FDG PET/CT compared with zero for whole-body MRI. Saving radiation exposure from diagnostic scans is particularly relevant for children, because they are more radiosensitive than adults and live long enough to encounter radiation-induced secondary cancers.


MIPS Research Featured on Cover of Small

February 12, 2014
The journal Small featured the collaborative work from the Daldrup-Link Lab and the Rao Lab on their cover. The article is entitled, "Cancer Therapy: Development of Novel Tumor-Targeted Theranostic Nanoparticles Activated by Membrane-Type Matrix Metalloproteinases for Combined Cancer Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Therapy".


Dr. de la Zerda Elected to Forbes Magazine "30 Under 30"

January 15, 2014
Adam de la Zerda, PhD , assistant professor of structural biology is included in Forbes Magazine's "30 under 30 ." Each year, the magazine compiles a list of 30 up-and-coming stars under the age of 30 in 12 different categories. Nominations are submitted by readers and a panel of experts in each category. De la Zerda, 29, who was also included in last year's list, was chosen for his work on developing imaging technologies to image the body at the molecular level and at unprecedented resolution.

Congratulations Dr. de la Zerda!