Naomi Matsuura, PhD
Jr. Scientist in Imaging Research at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
Lecturer in the Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Engineering New Contrast Agents for Smarter Cancer Imaging
Abstract
Imaging is a fundamental tool in the practice of medicine. In parallel with the development of improved imaging systems and techniques, there is an increasing interest in designing new contrast agents that guide and assess personalized treatment for cancer patients. With modern developments in materials science at the nanoscale and otherwise, it has become possible to push functional imaging to a new level. An overview of the emerging roles of contrast agents in clinical cancer imaging will be given, including their use as tools to guide new imaging techniques, as agents for the assessment and delivery of new cancer therapies in preclinical models, and as promising, near-future contrast agents for clinical applications. Specific examples of different hierarchical and composite contrast agents that are assembled to address and balance biological and physical challenges of contrast agent development will be given, with a focus on the use of bubbles, droplets and nanoparticles as multifunctional contrast agents for ultrasound imaging and therapy.
Biosketch
Naomi Matsuura is a Junior Scientist in Imaging Research at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and a Lecturer in the Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada. In 2007, she was awarded the John C. Polanyi Prize in Physiology/Medicine and Physics by the Government of Ontario for her research work. Her research program at Sunnybrook is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, the Ontario Research Fund-Research Excellence Program, and the US Department of Defense. She has been a licensed Professional Engineer in Ontario since 1997, and is certified by the Canadian Association of Radiopharmaceutical Scientists in their PET Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Training Program.