{"166131":{"#nid":"166131","#data":{"type":"news","title":"BME Researchers Take on Breast Cancer","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThroughout October, The Whistle has highlighted how Georgia Tech researchers are participating in the fight against breast cancer.\u0026nbsp;Here are some of the ways researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering are contributing to the fight.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPredicting Which Chemo Treatment Will Work Best\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssociate Professor Melissa Kemp is using a computational modeling and systems-level approach to better understand the metabolic pathways of one of the most commonly used drugs for breast cancer treatment, doxorubicin. With this approach, Kemp is able to predict how cancer cells from a patient are going to react to the doxorubicin chemotherapy based upon the individual\u2019s enzyme levels.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Ravi Bellamkonda\u2019s research group is developing a contrast agent to quantify breast-cancer blood vessel leakiness in mice. This allows the researchers to predict how successful doxil treatment would be. Based on these predictions, the researchers correctly predicted whether administering the drug would significantly shrink breast cancer tumors in the mice. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EImproving Diagnosis with\u0026nbsp;Better Mammography Images\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor Brani Vidakovic is developing new methods to enhance the resolution of microcalcifications in digital mammograms. Cancerous cells cause microcalcifications that are usually very small (0.1 mm to 1.0 mm) and difficult to detect. By using a wavelet-transform algorithm, researchers are able to get improved visualization of smaller details. In a recent study, the new wavelet procedures correctly identified cancerous tissue with 86 percent accuracy, compared to 55 percent from current methods of visual inspection. Vidakovic is working on this research in collaboration with Mary Newell, a radiologist at Emory University\u2019s Winship Cancer Institute.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EQuick Cancer Diagnosis from Biopsied Tissue\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor Manu Platt\u2019s research group has developed a technique called \u201cmultiplex cathepsin zymography\u201d that sensitively detects a class of protease biomarkers upregulated in many different types of cancers. They have used this on biopsied breast tissue to diagnose breast cancer with high sensitivity and specificity, and it does so in a relatively short time with the potential to reduce the patient waiting time for diagnosis results.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EUnderstanding How\u0026nbsp;Cancer Spreads\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAssistant Professor Susan Thomas and her research group are trying to understand metastasis when breast cancer cells leave the primary tumor and migrate to draining lymph nodes. They are also examining how lymph node metastasis influences the immune systems of patients. Their goal is to develop new ways to treat metastasis as well as develop immunotherapies to treat breast cancer.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThroughout October, The Whistle has highlighted how Georgia Tech researchers are participating in the fight against breast cancer.\u0026nbsp;Here are some of the ways researchers in the Department of Biomedical Engineering are contributing to the fight.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Throughout October, The Whistle has highlighted how Georgia Tech researchers are participating in the fight against breast cancer."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-10-29 14:17:10","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:02","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-10-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2012-10-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.bme.gatech.edu\/","title":"Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"48181","name":"Brani Vidakovic"},{"id":"594","name":"college of engineering"},{"id":"36141","name":"Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University"},{"id":"10832","name":"Manu Platt"},{"id":"5084","name":"Melissa Kemp"},{"id":"2471","name":"Ravi Bellamkonda"},{"id":"169542","name":"Susan Thomas"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:adrianne.proeller@bme.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAdrianne Proeller\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EDepartment of Biomedical Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}