Isha Nadig Rose Hills
A General Approach to Immunotargeting of Near-Infrared Fluorophores
Bioimaging is crucial for diagnosing diseases, monitoring treatment responses, and guiding surgical studies. However, bioimaging in animals is challenging due to substantial scattering and autofluorescence in tissue at visible wavelengths (350-700 nm). To address this, we will design a noninvasive method of targeted imaging in animals through the design of near-infrared (NIR)-emissive heptamethine cyanine fluorescent probes. For targeted bioimaging, a thiol-reactive handle is attached to the fluorophore for conjugation to the protein linker by maleimide click chemistry. The protein linker binds to breast cancer-expressing antibody, IgG, through a systematic and consistent mechanism. This innovation enables promising applications in optically-guided cancer surgery and oncologic diagnostics. The versatility of our system allows varying the antibody conjugated to the NIR fluorophore to provide a general method for targeted bioimaging across broad applications.
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