M. Andrea Markus
Profile
Nanoscale materials increasingly find application in the diagnosis and/or therapy of a number of diseases. We are particularly interested in the question how certain nanoparticles help to track tumour cells or immune cells such as macrophages and how they can be exploited for the in vitro, in vivo and ex vivo visualization of cell-cell interactions, especially in the murine lung. Moreover, we investigate the localization of applied nanoparticles in the body, their interaction with the cells and their fate in the body over time, as well as the effect of nanoparticles on the production of reactive oxygen species. We do this by using a number of imaging techniques, including optical in vivo imaging, high resolution in vivo CT, optoacoustic imaging as well as high-resolution microscopy. The optimization of nanoparticles for multimodal imaging is a major goal which is achieved in collaborations with private companies and University based chemists.
A second section of our work investigates novel imaging techniques for the detection, monitoring and characterization of fibrosis. Cardiac fibrosis is examined by two-photon microscopy and x-ray based high resolution techniques in collaboration with the X-Ray Physics Department of the University Göttingen. Lung fibrosis is studied by means of a novel x-ray based lung function technique (XLF) that was developed in the group.
Projects
- Tracking of pulmonary macrophages with novel nanoparticles
- Interaction of nanoparticles with tumour and immune cells in the diseased lung and pancreatic cancer
- Effect of nanoparticles on radiation therapy and ROS
- X-ray based analysis of lung inflammation and lung fibrosis
- High resolution imaging of cardiac fibrosis
Members
Nathalia Ferreira (PhD Student) – co-supervision
Daniele Ferrari (PhD Student) – co-supervision
Bharti Arora (PhD Student) – co-supervision