At the invitation of Professor Zhongping Zhang, the vice director of Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Associate Professor Xiaohu Gao from Department of Bioengineering at University of Washington visited IIM on June 26th and made a report titled “Molecular Imaging and Analysis of Tumor Cells with Multifunctional Nanoparticles”.

　　It is significant to development a comprehensive and quantitative molecular profiling on single-cell level to unravel complex molecular pathways that underlie physiological and pathological processes. At the meeting, Prof. Gao introduced his latest research on single-cell analysis published on Nature Communication. He and his group developed a multicolor multicycle in situ imaging technology capable of creating detailed quantitative molecular profiles for individual cells by linking target-specific antibodies to a universal quantum dot-based platform via protein A in a quick and simple procedure. As a multicycle technology, complete de-staining of the cells is done by brief washing with a regeneration buffer, enabling the next full cycle of staining of cells.

　　The mainly research interests of Associate Prof. Gao from Department of Bioengineering at University of Washington are nano-materials in biomolecular screening, drug discovery/delivery, molecular diagnostics, in vivo molecular imaging and so on. His publications on the world's top scientific journals, such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communication, Chem. Soc. Rev. are more than 40. The papers are now cited over 7,000 times, and one of them has been cited over 2,000 times. In addition, he was invited to give presentations at more than 70 international academic institutions and conferences.

　　(By Guangmei Han）