Dynamic molecular imaging of signal transduction pathways in vivo

ED03-02

Genetically-encoded imaging reporters introduced into cells and transgenic animals enable noninvasive, longitudinal studies of dynamic biological processes in intact cells and living animals. The most common reporters include firefly luciferase (bioluminescence imaging), green fluorescence protein (fluorescence imaging), Herpes Simplex Virus-1 thymidine kinase (positron emission tomography) and variants with enhanced spectral and kinetic properties optimized for use in vivo. When cloned into promoter/enhancer sequences or engineered into fusion proteins, imaging reporters enable fundamental processes such as transcriptional regulation, signal transduction cascades, protein-protein interactions, oncogenic transformation, immunologic response and targeted drug action to be temporally and spatially registered in vivo. Spying on cancer with genetically-encoded imaging reporters provides new insight into cell-specific molecular and regulatory machinery within the contextual environment of the whole animal.