MIPS Seminar
2:00-2:45 PM | Prof. Pawel Moskal
“Positronium Imaging with the J-PET Scanner”
Head of the Department of Experimental Particle Physics and Applications
Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics
Jagiellonian University, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
2:45-3:30 PM | Prof. Ewa Stepien
“Preclinical studies of positronium and extracellular vesicles biomarkers”
Head of the Department of Medical Physics
Marian Smoluchowski Institute of Physics
Jagiellonian University, 30-348 Krakow, Poland
ABSTRACT
As modern medicine develops towards personalized treatment of patients, there is a need for highly specific and sensitive tests to diagnose disease. Our research aims at improvement of specificity of positron emission tomography (PET) in assessment of cancer by use of positronium as a theranostic agent. During PET scanning about 40% of positron annihilations occur through the creation of positronium. “Positronium,” which may be formed in human tissues in the intramolecular spaces, is an exotic atom composed of an electron from tissue and the positron emitted by the radioinuclide. Positronium decay in the patient body is sensitive to the nanostructure and metabolism of human tissues. This phenomenon is not used in present PET diagnostics, yet it is in principle possible to exploit such environment modified properties of positronium as diagnostic biomarkers for cancer assessment. Our first in-vitro studies have shown differences of the positronium mean lifetime and production probability in healthy and cancerous tissues, indicating that they may be used as indicators for in-vivo cancer classification. For the application in medical diagnostics, the properties of positronium atoms need to be determined in a spatially resolved manner. For that purpose we have developed a method of positronium lifetime imaging in which the lifetime and position of positronium atoms are determined on an event-by-event basis. This method requires application of β+ decaying isotope that also emits a prompt gamma ray. We will argue that with total-body PET scanners, the sensitivity of positronium lifetime imaging, which requires coincident registration of the back-to-back annihilation photons and the prompt gamma, is comparable to the sensitivities for metabolic imaging with standard PET scanners.
Our research involves also development of diagnostic methods based on the extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are micro and nano-sized, closed membrane fragments. They are produced by native cells to facilitate the transfer of different signaling factors, structural proteins, nucleic acids or lipids even to distant cells. They are present in all body fluids and they are specific to their parental cells.
Our presentation will be divided into two parts. In the first, the method of positronium imaging and the pilot positronium images obtained with the J-PET detector (the first PET system built based on plastic scintillators) will be reported. This part of the presentation will include also description and perspectives of development of the J-PET technology in view of total-body PET imaging. The second part will concern preliminary results of the preclinical studies of positronium properties in cancerous and healthy tissues sampled from patients as well as in the frozen and living healthy and cancer skin cells in-vitro. The second part will include also description of the novel method for the diagnosis of diabetes and melanoma based on EVs used as biomarkers and drug delivery systems.
References:
P. Moskal, …. E. Ł. Stępień et al., Phys. Med. Biol. 64 (2019) 055017
- Moskal, B. Jasinska, E. Ł. Stępień, S. Bass, Nature Reviews Physics 1 (2019) 527
- Roman M… .E. Ł. Stępień, Nanomedicine 17 (2019) 137
- Ł. Stępień et al., Theranostics 8 (2018) 3874
Hosted by: Craig Levin, Ph.D.
Sponsored by the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford and the Department of Radiology
The Office of Accessible Education and Apple present:
Apple Accessibility: Tools for Everyone
Did you know Apple has built-in accessibility features such as Voice Control? Join us to find out how to customize your Apple iPhone, Mac, or iPad with this and more so that it works best for you.
Presentation Schedules:
- 3:45 – 4:10: Improve Vision | The tools that let you better see the content on your Apple device
- 4:15 – 4:40: Enhance Learning | Text to Speech, Word Completion and tools to reduce distractions
- 4:45 – 5:15: Tips and Tricks | Use accessibility features to get more out of your iPhone, iPad or Mac
Plus breakout sessions so you can ask specific questions about Apple’s accessibility features.
Please drop by for any or all of these sessions
Questions? Email rlcole@stanford.edu
Please note this seminar is now cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date.
MIPS Seminar: Investigating and Imaging key molecular switches associated with Acquirement of Platinum-Taxol resistance in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer
Pritha Ray, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator & Scientific Officer F
Imaging Cell Signaling & Therapeutics Lab
ACTREC, Tata Memorial Center
Navi Mumbai, India
Please note this seminar is now cancelled and will be rescheduled for a future date. Please contact Ashley Williams (ashleylw@stanford.edu) with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your understanding!
CEDSS: “The First Cell and the Human Cost of going after Cancer’s last”
Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine
Director, Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center
Columbia University Medical Center
CEDSS: “Multicancer detection of early-stage cancers with simultaneous tissue localization using a plasma cfDNA-based targeted methylation assay”
Eric Fung, M.D., Ph.D.
Senior Medical Director
GRAIL, Inc.
Please see zoom details below:
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/230531527
Dial: +1 650 724 9799 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll) or +1 833 302 1536 (US, Canada, Caribbean Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 230 531 527
ABOUT
Dr. Eric Fung is Vice President, Clinical Development at GRAIL, where he leads several clinical development programs in support of the development of a blood-based multi-cancer detection test. Dr. Fung has previously held clinical development and R&D leadership roles at Affymetrix, Vermillion, Ciphergen, and Roche Molecular Diagnostics. Dr. Fung has led clinical trials leading to FDA clearance of multiple IVD products. Dr. Fung received his MD, PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Hosted by: Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D.
Sponsored by the Canary Center & the Department of Radiology
Stanford University – School of Medicine
Stanford School of Medicine’s
1st Annual Conference on Disability in Healthcare and Medicine
Saturday, June 20, 2020
8:00am – 2:30pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Zoom Webinar
The conference goals are:
- Supporting students and healthcare providers with disabilities
- Training healthcare providers to better care for patients with disabilities
- Research into the intersection of providers and patients with disabilities
Target audience:
- Nursing students and nurses
- PA students and PA’s
- Medical students and medical doctors
- All other interested healthcare providers and allies
Cancer Research UK, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and the Canary Center at Stanford, present the Early Detection of Cancer Conference series. The annual Conference brings together experts in early detection from multiple disciplines to share ground breaking research and progress in the field.
The Conference is part of a long-term commitment to invest in early detection research, to understand the biology behind early stage cancers, find new detection and screening methods, and enhance uptake and accuracy of screening.
The 2020 conference will take place October 6-8 virtually.
Cancer Research UK, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute and the Canary Center at Stanford, have been closely monitoring developments relating to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and reviewing guidance from government bodies. After careful consideration, we have made the decision to convert the Early Detection of Cancer Conference 2020 to a virtual conference, instead of the scheduled in-person conference on October 6-8 in London, UK.
For more information visit the website: http://earlydetectionresearch.com/
Join us for the 3rd Annual Diversity and Inclusion Forum on Friday, October 9, 2020 on Zoom! This virtual event will highlight innovative workshops developed by our residents and fellows with their educational mentors who have participated in the 2019-2020 cohort of the Leadership Education in Advancing Diversity Program.
The event will be an enriching opportunity for all faculty, residents, fellows, postdocs, students, staff, and community members to learn tools and strategies to enable them to become effective change agents for diversity, equity, and inclusion in medical education.
All are welcome to participate and we look forward to seeing you on Friday, October 9!
Register here:
https://mailchi.mp/046c21726371/diversityforum2020-1632872?e=4a913cab2d
CEDSS: “The Origins and Detection of Lethal Prostate Cancer”
Paul Boutros, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Director, Cancer Data Sciences
UCLA
Please see zoom details below:
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/93515779500
Dial: +1 650 724 9799 or +1 833 302 1536
Meeting ID: 935 1577 9500
Meeting Passcode: 767148
ABOUT
Boutros earned his B.Sc. degree from the University of Waterloo in Chemistry in 2004, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto, Canada, in Medical Biophysics in 2008. At Toronto, he also earned an executive M.B.A. from the Rothman School of Management. In 2008, Boutros started his independent research career at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research first as a fellow (2008–2010) and then as principal investigator (2010–2018). He moved to California to join the UCLA faculty in 2018.
Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Sponsored by the Canary Center & the Department of Radiology
Stanford University – School of Medicine
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, join the Stanford Medicine Abilities Coalition (SMAC) for a first of its kind StanfordMed LIVE event focused on disability. Now more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, disabilities, health conditions, and illness impact not only our patients but also all of us, both personally and as members of the Stanford Medicine community. Stanford Medicine leadership will share information, answer questions, and engage in a roundtable discussion about the state of disability at Stanford and how best to support faculty, staff, and students living with disability and chronic illness. We encourage our community to submit questions and comments here to be shared broadly with the Stanford Medicine community. The same link can be used to request any accommodations needed for the livestream. Additional information for the webcast itself will be sent out closer to the event.
Livestream link: https://livestream.com/accounts/1973198/events/9288854