November 03, 2009 — The American Society for Nanomedicine (ASNM) recognized PhD candidate Jae Kyoo Lee’s research presentation, "Observing the Death of Cell on the Nanoscale: Real-time Molecular Imaging of Retinal Ganglion Cell Apoptosis under Elevated Pressure", by a “Young Investigator Award” at its inaugural conference, October 22-25, 2009 (Potomac, Maryland). Lee, in collaboration with Research Assistant Professor Siyuan Lu and under Prof. Anupam Madhukar’s guidance, is carrying out studies of the onset of apoptosis (self-programmed cell death) in retinal ganglion cells under elevated hydrostatic pressure and the role of axonal transport of neurotrophin (a class of growth factors for neuronal cells) in an effort to advance the understanding of glaucoma. The scientific objective of the research is to shed light on the cellular decision-making process under external stress by “seeing” the temporal and spatial map of molecular processes in real-time at the molecular and nanoscale levels in individual live cells.

To achieve these goals, the group has developed a new approach and experimental platform that involves simultaneous real-time imaging of changes in multiple morphological (pathological) features and expression of multiple biomolecules (physiological changes) in large numbers (~30-50) of live cells over prolonged periods of time (days) under controlled external stress. This is in contrast to the few (~3-5) cells studied at fixed intervals of time in conventional optical microscopy and is an approach necessary to obtain quantitative data sets to enable reliable phenomenological modeling and a “systems” perspective on cellular processes and onset of disease. The examination of axonal transport of growth factors, increasingly being recognized as an important element of the health of neuronal cells in general and of retinal ganglion cells in particular in the disease of glaucoma, is eased by the use of quantum dots as fluorescent labels for single molecule (here neurotrophin) imaging. The work is in part supported by the NSF ERC on Biomimetic Microelectronic Systems at USC. For more information and to see a movie of growth factor motion in live cells, visit the Madhukar Lab website at http://nanostructure.usc.edu.