Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory School of Medicine Atlanta, Georgia
Joseph M. Pettit Endowed Chair Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory School of Medicine
Improving immunotherapy in breast cancer.
Cellular immunotherapies, which cultivate a patient’s own immune cells so that they recognize and target tumors, are highly effective in blood cancers but less effective in “solid” cancers like breast cancer. The primary challenge in breast cancer is that cellular immunotherapies fail to penetrate the tumor, which prevents them from working effectively.
Dr. Emelianov and his team successfully devised a novel strategy to safely deliver immune cells directly to tumors using photomagnetic nanoparticles (PMNPs). They have shown that T-cells, a type of immune cell, can be labeled with the PMNPs, which have optical and magnetic properties, and guided to the tumor by applying an external magnetic field. So far, he and his team have successfully developed and characterized the PMNPs.
In the coming year, the team will further investigate that all types of T cells can be safely labeled with PMNPs for enhanced delivery and imaging. They will continue to work on enhancing immune cell delivery and infiltration to tumor tissue and test their method for its efficacy in eliciting a robust immune response. Their work can be extended to other immune cell types and may provide a way to customize and improve immunotherapy, predict outcomes, and plan a better treatment.
Dr. Stanislav Emelianov is a Joseph M. Pettit Endowed Chair, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is also appointed at Emory University School of Medicine where he is affiliated with Winship Cancer Institute, Department of Radiology, and other clinical units. Furthermore, Dr. Emelianov is Director of the Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Research Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology focused on the translation of diagnostic imaging & therapeutic instrumentation, and nanobiotechnology for clinical applications.
Dr. Emelianov’s career has been devoted to the development of advanced imaging methods, assisting treatment planning, and enhancing image-guided therapy and monitoring of the treatment outcome. He is specifically interested in intelligent biomedical imaging and sensing and has developed approaches for image-guided molecular therapy and therapeutic applications of ultrasound and electromagnetic energy. Dr Emelianov has pioneered several ultrasound-based imaging techniques including shear wave elasticity imaging and molecular photoacoustic imaging. Projects in Dr. Emelianov’s laboratory, which focuses on cancer and other diseases, range from molecular imaging to functional imaging and tissue differentiation, from drug delivery and release to image-guided surgery and intervention.
Dr. Emelianov is a nationally recognized expert in biomedical imaging instrumentation and nanoagents for imaging and therapy. He is the author of over 500 publications including peer-reviewed research articles, invited reviews, book chapters, and conference proceedings. In recognition of his contributions to the field, Dr. Emelianov was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He is past Vice-President for Ultrasonics of the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, and senior member of several professional organizations.
2011
The Delta Air Lines Award
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