Paper 13412-20
Paper 13412-20
Ultrasound and photoacoustic immunoimaging of nanoengineered T cells to guide and enhance cancer therapies
19 February 2025 • 11:50 AM - 12:10 PM PST | Palm 2
Abstract
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) continues to fail at treating a majority of cancers. Advanced immunoimaging tools are needed to guide and enhance cellular immunotherapies to achieve greater treatment success. We developed a combined ultrasound (US) and photoacoustic (PA) imaging approach to: 1) improve T cell delivery to the primary tumor via magnetic guidance; 2) enable real-time, longitudinal monitoring of cell accumulation; and 3) assess response to therapy. Our approach leverages nanotechnology and cell surface engineering to safely tag the T cells, generate PA contrast for imaging post-transfer, and enable magnetic delivery. In vivo US/PA imaging results detected NP-labeled T cell accumulation at the tumor, visualized changes in tumor volume, and conveyed accompanying changes in blood biomarkers. Different US/PA imaging trends were observed according to a positive or negative anti-tumor response. Results demonstrate the potential of the approach and motivate further development of advanced, theranostic immunoimaging platforms.
Presenter
Univ. of Virginia (United States)
Kelsey Kubelick is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia. Her lab creates versatile ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging tools that leverage light, sound, nanoconstruct design, and cellular engineering strategies to develop custom theranostic imaging approaches. She completed her PhD (2020) and postdoctoral training at the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research has been highlighted with numerous invited talks or inclusion in special sessions at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, SPIE Photonics West, or the BMES Annual Meeting. She was the recipient of the Zebrowitz Award for outstanding research in neuroscience from Emory University, and she was recognized as a 2021 Rising Star in Engineering in Health – an honor from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins BME.