Dr. de la Zerda is developing imaging technology to visualize and monitor changes in living cells. Cancer cells display unique sugar patterns on their surface, which contain tremendous diagnostic information about tumor aggressiveness and responsiveness to therapy. The initial goal is to use this imaging technology to monitor tumor sugar patterns, as a method to stratify patients with prostate cancer and determine which patients may benefit from treatment vs. “active surveillance.” In the future, this technology may be applied to other cancer types and may also shed light on the role of sugars in cancer development.

 

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Project Title: "Imaging cancer glycomes with functionalized carbon nanotubes"

Institution: University of California, Berkeley

Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): Carolyn R. Bertozzi, PhD

Cancer Type: Prostate

Research Area: Imaging