Kannie W.y. Chan

Biography

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: Dr. Kannie Chan attended The University of Hong Kong, where she received her Bachelor of Science and Doctor of philosophy degree. Her thesis focused on the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. She conducted post-doctoral research in biomaterials and medical imaging with a focus on MRI at Department of Radiology at Johns Hopkins in 2010. Then she joined the F.M. Kirby Research Center as an instructor in 2013, and currently serves as an assistant professor at the Center. RESEARCH SUMMARY: Dr. Kannie Chan is an inorganic chemist by training and her present research focuses on the development of biomaterials and imaging techniques to facilitate the clinical translation of cell therapy and cancer therapy. One of the main imaging techniques is the chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST), which is an emerging MRI contrast mechanism for molecular imaging. In cell therapy, a non-invasive way to monitor cell fate after transplantation has a critical role in translating cell therapy to patients. Dr. Chan has shown the use of nanoparticle, such as liposome, and hydrogel to monitor the molecular and cellular events in vivo using CEST. She is now investigating the potential applications of this system in stem cell therapy, especially neural stem cell. Liposome not only acts as nanosensor, it has been widely used in drug delivery. Dr. Chan has devised nanocarriers for chemotherapeutics to overcome barriers in cancer treatments. In the aspect of cancer imaging, she is actively developing non-invasive CEST technique to monitor glucose in tumors in animal model, which is named as glucoCEST. This is to exploit the potential of this technology in diagnosis and treatment monitoring in cancer.

Research Interest

Cancer