Zhiming Mai, PhD

Instructor

Hasan Team

Research Interests

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an emerging modality for the destruction of malignant or other unwanted tissue.  PDT has received regulatory approval in many countries (including the U.S.) for the treatment of a variety of cancers and non-cancers. Still, there is a need for a higher level of selectivity than is achievable even with the dual selectivity inherent to PDT. My research in Dr. Hasan’s laboratory at the Wellman Center currently involves the enhancement of therapy specificity with two preclinical studies utilizing mouse models of ovarian cancer (OVCA) and prostate cancer (PCA). For OVCA, the conjugation of the photosensitizer to targeting agents is designed to increase the specificity of PDT against the disease. During ALA-based PDT, a pro-drug (aminiolevulinic acid; ALA) is taken up by tumor cells and metabolically converted to a photosensitizing intermediate (protoporphyrin IX; PpIX). With PCA, my goal is to differentiate the increasing conversion of ALA to PpIX over normal tissue in the prostate tumor by administering agents to achieve a high selectivity of PDT.

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