Pilhan Kim, PhD

Research Fellow

Yun Team

Research Interests

My main research interests are to develop novel endoscopic techniques comprised by in-vivo, non-invasive, microscopic imaging of viscera organs and in-situ micromanipulation, optimized for longitudinal study in a single animal ultimately providing a new research platform to enable an unprecedented approach in biomedical study.

Intravital confocal and multiphoton microscopy combined with fluorescent biomarkers has opened up new avenues for biomedical investigations by providing non-invasive in-vivo image acquisition with cellular resolution. However, for the in vivo imaging of small animal models for human disease which is rapidly developing, the limited light penetration in live tissue the mouse and the large size of instruments make application of these techniques highly limited, compared to their thriving use in cell and molecular biology.

Novel endoscopic techniques are needed to conduct this high-resolution intravital microscopy to visualize individual cellular behavior in internal organs of small animal models; which would greatly increase its applications in basic and translational research. In past years, I have custom built a fully integrated microendoscopy imaging system, which can offer the following highly desirable features: 1) Video-rate confocal / multi-photon imaging in real time; 2) 1mm diameter endoscopes with microscopic resolution; 3) Motion-stabilizing endoscopic device; and 4) a flexible, reconfigurable optical design.

With newly developed systems, our team has embarked on several collaborative projects with immunologists and gastroenterologists to serve such purposes. Each pilot project aims to visualize and monitor cellular or micro-morphological processes, such as immune cell trafficking, tumor development and metastasis, cell-mediated lymph-angiogenesis, and vasculopathy.

Recent Publications

P. Kim, M. Puoris’haag, D. Cote, C. P. Lin, and S. H. Yun, “In vivo confocal and multiphoton microendoscopy,” J Biomedical Optics 13; 010501 (2008).

G. Tocco, C. D. Kant, P. Kim, C. P. Lin, S. H. Yun, and G. Benichou, “Cellular Trafficking in Transplantation - Dendritic cells in and out of the graft: An in vivo Microscopy Approach,” ATC’2008, will be presented

Awards

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