Dr. Kircher's goal is to develop a new nanoparticle-based technology that will allow the detection and treatment of cancer based on in vivo tumor marker expression profiling. This would enable a single cancer cell to be both imaged and killed in a single process. To date this has not been achieved, in part due to inadequate sensitivity and inability to accurately visualize the expression of multiple tumor markers simultaneously.
A radiologist by training, he has developed a new generation of Raman-MRI nanoparticles, resulting in unprecedented sensitivity and targeted signal specificity. He will work with prostate, pancreatic and breast cancer tumors to develop markers that can be targeted by these nanoparticles. If successful, this approach will have far-reaching implications for cancer detection and image-guided therapy.
