Alex K. Shalek, PhD
Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Department of Chemistry and Koch Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract: While several methods exist for sampling tissues in clinical contexts, without high-fidelity tools for comprehensively profiling them, we are both limited in our capacity to understand how constituent cells and their interactions impact prognosis, and to select and develop precision therapeutics. Recent years have witnessed transformative and intersecting advances in nanofabrication and molecular biology that now enable deep profiling of low-input samples. Collectively, these afford new and exciting opportunities to study cellular heterogeneity, starting from the level of the single cell, and may unlock the diagnostic, prognostic, and discovery potential of clinical isolates. Illustratively, I will introduce how we can leverage single-cell genomic approaches – and, in particular, single-cell RNA-Seq – to explore the extensive functional diversity between cells, uncovering, from the “bottom-up,” distinct cell states and their molecular drivers. Moreover, I will discuss high-throughput experimental strategies and demonstrate, in the context of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, how they can be leveraged to achieve the statistical power necessary to reconstruct intracellular circuits, enumerate and redefine cell states and types, and transform our understanding of cellular decision-making in health and disease on a genomic scale.
Bio: Alex K. Shalek is currently the Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor at MIT, as well as a Core Member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and an Extramural Member of The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute, an Associate Member of the Ragon Institute, an Assistant in Immunology at MGH, and an Instructor in Health Sciences and Technology at HMS. His research is directed towards the development and application of new technologies that facilitate understanding of how cells collectively perform systems-level functions in healthy and diseased states. Dr. Shalek received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in chemical physics under the guidance of Hongkun Park, and performed postdoctoral training under Hongkun Park and Aviv Regev (Broad/MIT). To date, his interdisciplinary research has focused on realizing and utilizing nanoscale manipulation and measurement technologies to examine how small components (molecules, cells) drive systems of vast complexity (cellular responses, population behaviors).
CME Grand Rounds Sanjiv Sam Gambhir Lectureship – “Imaging at the Speed of Light: Innovations in Positron Emission Tomography”
Simon R. Cherry, PhD
Professor
Biomedical Engineering & Radiology
UC Davis
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Meeting ID: 600 003 703
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ABSTRACT
Positron emission tomography (PET) allows for sensitive and quantitative measurement of physiology, metabolism and molecular targets noninvasively in the human body. However, typical clinical PET scanners capture less than 1% of the available signal produced in the body. PET scanners also are not currently capable of precisely determining the location at which a particular decay occurs. These limitations present opportunities for further innovation that ultimately will impact molecular imaging research and diagnostic imaging with PET. This presentation focuses on 1) total-body PET imaging which greatly improves signal collection, allowing radiotracer kinetics to be assessed across the entire human body for the first time, and 2) the development of detector technologies that have a timing precision of ~ 30 picoseconds, enabling direct localization of radiotracer decays without tomographic reconstruction.
BIO
Simon R. Cherry, Ph.D. received his B.Sc.(Hons) in Physics with Astronomy from University College London in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the Institute of Cancer Research, University of London in 1989. After a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA, he joined the faculty in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, also at UCLA, in 1993. In 2001, Dr. Cherry joined UC Davis and established the Center for Molecular and Genomic Imaging, which he directed from 2004-2016. Currently Dr. Cherry is Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology at UC Davis.
Dr. Cherry’s research interests center around biomedical imaging and in particular the development and application of in vivo molecular imaging systems. His major accomplishments have been in developing systems for positron emission tomography (PET), in particular the invention of the microPET technology that was subsequently widely adopted in academia and industry and as co-leader of the EXPLORER consortium which has developed the world’s first total-body PET scanner. He also has contributed to detector technology innovations for PET, conducted early biomedical studies using Cerenkov luminescence, and developed the first proof-of-concept hybrid PET/MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) systems.
Dr. Cherry is a founding member of the Society of Molecular Imaging and an elected fellow of six professional societies, including the Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) and the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES). He served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology from 2011-2020. Dr. Cherry received the Academy of Molecular Imaging Distinguished Basic Scientist Award (2007), the Society for Molecular Imaging Achievement Award (2011) and the IEEE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award (2016). In 2016, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering and in 2017 he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors. Dr. Cherry is the author of more than 240 peer-reviewed journal articles, review articles and book chapters in the field of biomedical imaging. He is also lead author of the widely-used textbook “Physics in Nuclear Medicine”.
CME Grand Rounds Diversity Lectureship – Topic: TBD
Jennifer L. Eberhardt, PhD
Professor
Psychology
Stanford University
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/600003703?pwd=RjcwS2MvOG1qVkxyL3U0RmNtUDVWdz09
Meeting ID: 600 003 703
Password: 566048
Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +18333021536,,600003703# or +16507249799,,600003703#
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Dial: +1 650 724 9799 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll) or +1 833 302 1536 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll Free)
International numbers available: https://stanford.zoom.us/u/acuqphnvqT
ABSTRACT
Coming soon!
BIO
Coming soon!
CME Grand Rounds – “Community Based Partnered Research: Revisiting a Critical Concept for Radiology”
Christoph L. Lee, MD, MS, MBA
Professor
Radiology
University of Washington
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/600003703?pwd=RjcwS2MvOG1qVkxyL3U0RmNtUDVWdz09
Meeting ID: 600 003 703
Password: 566048
Or iPhone one-tap (US Toll): +18333021536,,600003703# or +16507249799,,600003703#
Or Telephone:
Dial: +1 650 724 9799 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll) or +1 833 302 1536 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll Free)
International numbers available: https://stanford.zoom.us/u/acuqphnvqT
ABSTRACT
Coming soon!
BIO
Coming soon!