Three-dimensional cell cultures are attractive models for biological research. They combine the flexibility of cell culture with some of the spatial and molecular complexity of tissue. For example, colon cancer cell lines form spheroids, in vitro mimics of poorly vascularized tumors. The spheroids are composed of a central necrotic core, a middle quiescent layer and an outer proliferative layer of cells, similar to a rapidly growing colon tumor. Our laboratory has characterized the distribution of endogenous proteins via MALDI imaging mass spectrometry in colon spheroids and determined that the molecular gradients correlate with the pathophysiological changes in the structure. We have developed Spatial SILAC, a method to selectively label the cells in the distinct chemical microenvironments in the spheroids and assess the proteomic changes in response to drug treatment. In this presentation, the spatially-localized proteomic changes in response to the multiple kinase inhibitor Regorafenib will be described. In brief, the cellular response to Regorafenib treatment is significantly affected by the location of the cells and the chemical microenvironment.

Amanda Hummon earned her A.B. in chemistry at Cornell University and her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at the University of Illinois, in the laboratory of Prof. Jonathan V. Sweedler. She completed her postdoctoral work at the National Cancer Institute. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Comprehensive Cancer Center at The Ohio State University. Her laboratory develops mass spectrometric methods to explore cancer tissues, cell cultures, and organoids. She has been recognized with an NSF CAREER award, the American Chemical Society Rising Star Award and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She recently completed a Fulbright Scholar Award in the Laboratory of Ron Heeren in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

By combining biosensor microscopy that provides high contrast for detecting individual biomolecules with novel biochemistry methods that can effectively turn each target molecule into many digitally-counted sensing events, it is possible to achieve attomolar-scale limits of detection for cancer-specific nucleic acid target molecules (miRNA and ctDNA) while simultaneously obtaining thousands-to-one selectivity against single base variants.  The presentation will describe the use of photonic metamaterials and associated detection instruments to amplify optical absorption and fluorescence emission.  The biodetection technology platforms are used to perform assays using nucleic acid strand displacement reactions and CRISPR/Cas chemistry to sense target biomarkers from complex media.  The “amplify-then-digitize” approach represents a new and powerful paradigm for molecular diagnostics, compared to the “digitize-then-amplify” approach utilized in methods such as droplet digital PCR (ddPCR).  Overall, we seek simple, rapid, room temperature, single-step assay methods that can be operate with small, inexpensive, and robust detection systems for applications in point of care diagnostics, laboratory-based diagnostics, and life science research applications.

Prof. Cunningham has been a faculty member in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the department Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2004, following a 15-year career in Industry.Prof. Cunningham’s technical focus is the utilization of photonics for biosensing in applications that include life science research, diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and pharmaceutical screening.  He has over 90 issued US patents and over 195 peer reviewed journal publications.  He is a Fellow of NAS, IEEE, OSA, RSC, AAAS, and AIMBE.  He serves as the Director of the Center for Genomic Diagnostics at the Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and as a Program Leader for the Cancer Center at Illinois on the topic of Cancer Measurement Technology and Data Science.  In 2023, his technical contributions were recognized by Optica by the Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award.

The treatment landscape of metastatic prostate cancer has undergone a dynamic shift since 2015 onwards. Multiple drugs/drug combinations have emerged for treating metastatic hormone-sensitive and metastatic castrate-resistant states. This presentation will highlight the challenges of precision medicine delivery in the context of an ever-changing clinical standard of care in advanced prostate cancer. We will discuss our attempts of weaving biomarker development, health economic outcome analyses, bioengineering ultrasensitive detection technologies and augmented intelligence approaches into clinical practice for enhancing the delivery of precision healthcare in this clinical setting.

Dr. Manish Kohli started his career at the VA and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as an Assistant Professor. In 2005, he joined University of Rochester, New York as Associate Professor where he oversaw growth of genomic and liquid biopsy research. Subsequently Dr. Kohli joined Mayo Clinic, Rochester in 2008 to build a comprehensive Genitourinary Oncology translational and clinical research program. He was promoted to Consultant/Professor in 2016 and in 2019 appointed Vice-Chair of the Department of Genitourinary Oncology, a Distinguished Moffitt Scholar and Director of the DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute at Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa. In 2020 he joined Huntsman Cancer Institute as a Presidential Endowed Chair in cancer research and Professor with tenure. His research focusses on advanced prostate cancer “convergence sciences” which combines population-based trials with precision medicine concepts. As part of this initiative, he works on multiple RO1s with colleagues at Stanford and University of Illinois for developing ultrasensitive liquid biopsy detection devices that profile molecular determinants of clinical outcomes.