Nourhan Shalaby
PhD candidate
I am a PhD candidate at Western University co-supervised by Dr. John Ronald and Dr. Timothy Scholl. As part of the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Group, my project focuses on developing novel cell-tracking techniques using genetically engineered cells that can be visualized with medical imaging technologies such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET).
Current techniques that are employed in the clinic pose limitations with respect to sensitivity, safety and ability for longitudinal monitoring. Our cell system uses human-derived, and thus safe genes, that can encode for transporters, which when administered with clinical agents, are detectable with two imaging modalities and can overcome these limitations. The use of two imaging tools allows complementary and comprehensive information on these cells as PET provides sensitive and quantifiable information while MRI provides longitudinal tracking abilities.
