Two graduate students will present their research at the third Beckman Graduate Student Seminar of the spring semester: Lilian Yang, electrical and computer engineering; and Shensheng Zhao, electrical and computer engineering.

The event takes place at noon Wednesday, April 3 in 5602 Beckman Institute. Lunch will be provided to attendees who register in advance.

Label-free multimodal optical microscopy for characterization of collagen in the tissue microenvironments

Lilian Yang.

Collagen plays diverse and crucial roles in biological tissues, especially in tumors. Various optical imaging techniques have been used to study collagen, and among all, label-free methods stand out as exceptional tools for investigating collagen in its native biological context. Based on different types of light-matter interaction mechanisms at different scales, complementary contrasts can be generated by combining different imaging modalities. This talk will present our recent progress in developing a label-free multimodal microscope that can provide structural, molecular, and chemical information of collagen in fresh, un-processed tissue, and thus enhance the understanding of collagen in its native environment.

Lilian Yang is a sixth-year Ph.D. student in electrical and computer engineering supervised by Stephen Boppart. Her research focuses on the development and integration of various label-free optical imaging techniques, particularly for the characterization of collagen in intact tissue microenvironments. She is the recipient of the 2023 Thomas and Margaret Huang Graduate Fellowship at Beckman.

Mechanochemical dynamic therapy guided by hybrid photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging

Shensheng Zhao. Mechanochemical dynamic therapy is a promising therapeutic technology that can treat cancer cells with deep penetration and high spatial-temporal control. It relies on the activation of force-sensitive small molecules to produce free cancer-killing radicals with ultrasound mechanical agitation. MDT is presently undergoing intensive developmental endeavors, especially the development of different mechanophore nanoparticles and the investigation of the treatment efficacy. In this talk, I will introduce our recent progress on in vivo anti-cancer effect of MDT with injectable mechanosensitive nanoparticle using focused ultrasound therapeutic system. In addition, I will talk about our developed multimodality imaging guided MDT platform by integrating dual modal photoacoustic/ultrasound imaging with ultrasound therapeutic system. The system has the capability to probe tumor microenvironment, provide real-time temperature monitor and particle distribution.

Shensheng Zhao is pursuing his Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering under the supervision of Yun-Sheng Chen. His research is mainly focused on the development of hybrid photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging systems for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Shensheng received the Beckman Graduate Fellowship in 2023.