IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Program IEEE 著名学者讲习计划：

美国工程院院士、加州大学戴维斯分校教授

-- Katherine Whittaker Ferrara

Imaging in support of focal interventions

Magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is one of a set of focal techniques for the minimally-invasive treatment of cancer, neurological disease and regenerative medicine indications. In cancer applications, pre-clinical results suggest that focal techniques such as MRgFUS or radiation therapy can cause immunogenic cell death, leading to an anti-tumor response and facilitating combinations with drugs, genes or immuno therapy. With a high duty cycle and intensity, MRgFUS can selectively ablate tissue deep in the body; alternatively, MRgFUS can provide a low-intensity mechanical tissue stimulation. Local ablation results in a short-lived presentation of specific Tcell receptors and of specific tumor antigens on macrophages and dendriticcells. One area of our previous work has involved combining MRgFUS with immunotherapy using protocols optimized to create a complete response in disseminated cancers. For the ablation-immuno therapy protocols, an innate immune response is triggered in the region exposed to ultrasound, and in the distant tumors a dense infiltration of activated T cells results in tumor cellapoptosis. We find the ablation-immunotherapy therapy combination is moreeffective than immunotherapy alone, particularly in the presence of a hightumor burden. We have identified ~10,000 genes that are altered by thecombination treatment as compared with a no-treatment control tumor (~6000 morethan are altered by immunotherapy only). Many of these gene subsets provide interestingopportunities to selectively enhance response. Other aspects of our ongoingwork include image-guided transfection and drug delivery. When coupled withinjected microbubbles, MRgFUS can enhance localized drug delivery ortransfection. We have recently demonstrated the potential for localtransfection to be augmented by ultrasound in regenerative medicine andneuroscience applications. Our current research combines many aspects of suchprotocols: transducer array design, nanoparticle design, biologicalcharacterization using RNA and T cell receptor sequencing, and the developmentof methods to characterize response and toxicity with MR imaging and positronemission tomography. We will summarize several examples of how novel imagingand methods for biological characterization can enhance outcomes in protocols that combine focal and systemic therapies.

BIO：Katherine Whittaker Ferrara is a Distinguished Professorof Biomedical Engineering at UC Davis and the Director of the Center for Content RichEvaluation of Therapeutic Efficacy (cCRETE). She is a member of the National Academy of Engineeringand a fellow of the IEEE, American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Biomedical Engineering Society, the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Ferrara received her Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of California, Davis. Prior to her PhD, Dr. Ferrara was a projectengineer for General Electric Medical Systems, involved in the development ofearly magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound systems.  Following anappointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of BiomedicalEngineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Dr. Ferrara served as the founding chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering at UCDavis.  Her laboratory is known for early work in aspects of ultrasonics and has more recently expanded their focus to broadly investigate molecular imaging and drug delivery.  Dr. Ferrara’s laboratory has received numerous awards including the Achievement Award from the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, which is the top honor of this society. 

IEEE Distinguished Lecturer Program in China (11.07-11.12) 

11月07日, 10:30 香港理工大学 香港理工大学Y301会议室 主持人：郑永平 孙雷