Cancer Molecular Imaging, Nanotechnology and Theranostics
Overview
The Cancer Molecular Imaging, Nanotechnology, and Theranostics (CMINT) research program advances translational imaging, nanoparticle design and delivery, and theranostics to improve cancer patient outcomes and moves discoveries from preclinical and clinical applications. The research program is highly interactive and transdisciplinary, bringing together members from four UCLA schools and affiliate institution Caltech, with members drawn from a wide variety of basic and clinical departments. Its members have diverse and complementary expertise in an extensive range of disciplines including biology, nuclear medicine, physics, nanotechnology, urology, radiology, radiation oncology, drug development, engineering, image reconstruction, chemistry, radiochemistry and animal models of disease.
Specific Aims
The principal objective of the CMINT research program is to integrate molecular imaging, nanotechnology, and theranostics to drive significant advancements in cancer diagnostics and therapeutics, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes for LA County residents and beyond.
- To develop advanced instrumentation, analytical tools, and molecular imaging approaches to investigate tumor biology in vivo
- To explore novel nanotechnology-based systems to enable precise immunomodulatory agent delivery and diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring
- To investigate immune responses and immunotherapy using novel molecular imaging approaches
- To pursue clinical theranostic approaches, evaluate new theranostic targets, conduct large-scale imaging trials, and overcome resistance mechanisms through rational combination therapies
Meetings and Seminars
- Participation in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center seminar series that features invited outside and local faculty
- Weekly research program meeting
- Quarterly presentations featuring SOMI (Scholars in Oncologic Molecular Imaging) postdoctoral fellows and faculty discussions
- Seminar series with external speakers (in collaboration with Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging and California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA)
- Quarterly research program scientific exchange dinners
- Semi-annual, inter-programmatic symposia on nanotechnology in cancer
Leadership
Director Dr. Johannes Czernin is Professor and Vice Chair of the UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. Czernin serves as Chief of the Ahmanson Translational Imaging Division (ATID), that includes the UCLA nuclear medicine clinical service, the biomedical cyclotron operation, a preclinical imaging center, a cancer biology and drug development group (Radu) as well as a radiochemistry group. He has more than 25 years of experience in molecular imaging, and held national and international leadership positions including president of the Academy of Molecular Imaging). He serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. He is a co-founder of Sofie Biosciences Inc. and Trethera Therapeutics, UCLA spin-offs that translate technology and targeted drugs to the market. Czernin has established a translational research program that links laboratory studies of cellular uptake of radioactive metabolites or ligands, preclinical evaluation of specific molecular imaging probes in small animals, and clinical evaluation of new radiotracers for molecular imaging of cancer patients. He also recently established a successful translational theranostics program. His strength is in translating preclinical research into clinical applications, and he has designed and conducted numerous past and ongoing clinical trials.
Co-director Dr. Caius Radu is Professor and Vice-Chair of the UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. He serves as associate director of ATID and heads their cancer biology and drug development groups. His work elucidates therapy resistance mechanisms in cancer and identifies cancer liabilities that can be exploited using pharmacologic and genetic approaches. Radu embeds diagnostics and therapeutics in tumor biology resulting in identification and pharmacologic targeting of cancer liabilities. He closely collaborates with Czernin to define unmet clinical needs that are addressed from the cellular to the small animal and finally to the clinical level. He has established a successful drug development program and uses imaging probes as predictive biomarkers for treatment response. Radu is also a co-founder of Sofie Biosciences Inc. and Trethera Therapeutics.
Co-director Dr. Jeffrey Zink is a Distinguished Professor in the UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is a pioneer of multifunctional mechanized nanoparticle synthesis and biomedical applications, and with his collaborators, create particles that are biocompatible and deliver hydrophobic drugs and siRNA into cells and tumors in vivo. His studies brought worldwide attention to the therapeutic properties of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) as drug delivery systems. Additional collaborations have proudced a creative method to modify the vasculature for improved drug delivery in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, the engineering of siRNA-loaded nanoparticles to inhibit TWIST protein and block the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in breast and ovarian cancers, and the development of novel nanoparticle-based magnetic resonance image guided therapy.
Upcoming Events
Below is a list of upcoming events of interest to the Cancer Molecular Imaging, Nanotechnology and Theranostics Research Program and its members. This calendar is updated automatically.
For a list of all upcoming Cancer Center events, please visit our Events Calendar.
- Corey W. Arnold, PhD *
- Jorge Barrio, PhD
- Navid Bavi, PhD
- Wayne Brisbane, MD
- Manish Butte, M.D., Ph.D. *
- Jeremie Calais, MD, PhD *
- Giuseppe Carlucci, PhD *
- Arion Chatziioannou, PhD *
- Jun Chen, PhD *
- Jason Chiang, MD, PhD
- Pei-Yu (Eric) Chiou, PhD *
- Peter M. Clark, PhD
- Timothy Cloughesy, MD *
- David (D. Jeffrey) Jeffrey Demanes, MD
- Christopher Denny, MD
- Dino Di Carlo, PhD *
- Timothy R. Donahue, MD *
- Steven Dubinett, MD *
- Sai Duriseti, MD, PhD
- Fritz C. Eilber, MD
- Benjamin M. Ellingson, PhD, MS *
- James K. Gimzewski, PhD, DSc hc
- Mark Girgis, MD
- Thomas Graeber, PhD *
- Patrick G. Harran, PhD
- Sung-Cheng (Henry) Huang, ScD
- Oluwatayo (Tayo) Ikotun, PhD *
- Neema Jamshidi, MD, PhD *
- Michael Jung, PhD *
- Harley Kornblum, MD, PhD *
- Thuc Le, PhD *
- Edward Wolfgang Lee, MD
- Neil (Yen-Chih) Lin, PhD
- Daniel Low, PhD
- Leonard S. Marks, MD *
- Heather Maynard, PhD, MS *
- Michael McNitt-Gray, PhD *
- Christine Mona, PhD *
- Jennifer M. Murphy, PhD *
- David A. Nathanson, PhD *
- Andre Nel, MBChB, PhD *
- Ichiro Nishimura, DDS, DMSc, DMD *
- Frank Pajonk, MD, PhD *
- Kunal S. Patel, MD *
- Whitney Pope, MD, PhD *
- Robert Prins, PhD *
- Steven Raman, MD *
- Jian Yu Rao, MD *
- Robert Reiter, MD, MBA *
- Leonard Rome, PhD
- Amy Rowat, PhD *
- Dan Ruan, PhD *
- Kathleen Ruchalski, MD
- Claudio Scafoglio, MD, PhD *
- Mikhail G. Shapiro, PhD *
- Daniel Silverman, MD, PhD
- Ellen Sletten, PhD *
- Kyung H. Sung, PhD *
- Michael Teitell, MD, PhD *
- Donatello Telesca, PhD
- James S. Tomlinson, MD, PhD
- Hsian-Rong Tseng, PhD *
- Hans (H. David) David Ulmert, MD, PhD *
- Robert (R. Michael) Michael van Dam, PhD *
- Fang Wei, PhD
- Paul S. Weiss, PhD *
- Shimon Weiss, DSc
- Jing Wen, PhD *
- Ernest Wright, PhD, DSc
- Holden H. Wu, PhD *
- Lily Wu, MD, PhD *
- Ya-Hong Xie, PhD
- Hong Zhou, PhD
- Yazhen Zhu, MD, PhD *
Upcoming Events
Basic / Population Science Careers in Health Care
UCLA CTSI Distinguished Speaker Series (Cancer Research Theme) Featuring Dr. Fola May
