Synthesis of radiochemical probes for cancer imaging

Dr. Pan's laboratory specializes at development of novel molecular imaging agents for both modalities of near infrared (NIR) optical and nuclear imaging.  Current research projects are as follow.

(1)    Development of cyanine 5.5 labeled annexin V for tumor apoptosis imaging.  Non-invasive detection of mice tumor apoptosis, induced by gamma irradiation, using IVIS small animal fluorescence imaging device demonstrated that the agent is a promising agent for apoptosis detection in small animals.  The project has been carried out through collaboration with Dr. Tyvin Rich of Radiation Oncology Department.

(2)     Synthesis of radiolabeled reporter substrates for noninvasive measurement of thymidine kinase gene expression. The project was partially funded by the Cancer Center of UVA in 2000.