[MOS] TODAY - Modern Optics and Spectroscopy Seminar with Professor Ishan Barman (Johns Hopkins University)

[Christine Brooks]

There will be a Modern Optics and Spectroscopy Seminar held today, April 17 at 12pm in 34-401

Professor Ishan Barman
Department of Mechanical Engineering & Department of Oncology
Johns Hopkins University

“Decoding the molecular pathology of cancer with vibrational spectroscopy”

Understanding the metastatic progression of cancer remains challenging due in part to a rudimentary knowledge of metabolic, physiologic, and molecular adaptations that allow for the cancer to survive and thrive within different tissue types. Raman spectroscopy is particularly attractive for the analysis of cancer cells and their microenvironment as it permits a rapid and simultaneous fingerprinting of inherent biologic content, extraneous materials and functional state without the use of labeled probes. Leveraging such non-perturbative analysis, we have generated novel molecular descriptions of the poorly understood pre-metastatic niche, i.e. the collective changes at the distant metastatic sites prior to the arrival of the tumor cells. Additionally, we have determined clinically relevant spectral markers of early metastatic disease in bone that permit detection significantly before morphologic variations are captured through radiographic diagnosis. A second module of our research focuses on engineering nanostructured plasmonic probes for ultrasensitive detection of specific molecular species. The high sensitivity and broad applicability of these plasmonic nanoprobes, in conjunction with their inert composition, render them a promising agent for serum profiling as well as for precise delineation of microscopic tumors that are impossible to visualize with currently available imaging technologies.


Refreshments will be served immediately following the seminar


Christine Brooks
Administrative Assistant
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Department of Chemistry
77 Massachusetts Ave, 6-333
Cambridge, MA 02139
p: 617.253.7239
e: cbrooks at mit.edu<mailto:cbrooks at mit.edu>

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