The board research objective in my group is to develop
multifunctional platform technologies for understanding,
detection and treatment of life-threatening diseases. Toward
this goal, we will take an interdisciplinary approach
that brings together organic chemistry, nanotechnology and
molecular biology to synthesize functional polymers,
polish their optoelectronic and biochemical properties, and
shape them into smart and biocompatible nanoagents
for advanced molecular imaging and amplified therapy. There
are three major interests of our research.
Detection and monitoring of pathological processes in
disease microenvironment at the
molecular level for prognosis, diagnosis and therapeutic
outcome assessment. Development
of noninvasive high-throughput technologies drug screening
with a focus on real-time in
vivo imaging of drug metabolism and evolution of
drug-induced toxicity.
Development of organic semiconducting nanomaterials with state-of-art imaging modalities such as photoacoustic imaging, near-infrared fluorescence imaging and bioluminescence imaging to improve imaging penetration depth and spatial resolution.
Design and synthesis of activatable imaging probes to uncover how reactive radical species modulate tumor metabolism, promote metastasis and angiogenesis, and foster drug resistance phenotypes.
