Page 18 - TPIS2022

Dr. Edwin Chang

Specialty: Molecular Imaging
Academic Title: PhD, Director/Canary Preclinical
Core Imaging Facility
Affiliation: Department of Radiology/Molecular
Imaging Program at Stanford, Stanford University,
Stanford, CA, USA

Until July 2020 I was a laboratory scientist under the late Dr. Sanjiv S. Gambhir (MD, PhD).
From July 2020 to June 16, 2021, I was a laboratory scientist under Dr. Heike Daldrup-Link (MD,
PhD) in the Department of Radiology at Stanford University. I was promoted to Director of the
Canary Preclinical Core Imaging Facility at Stanford on June, 16, 2021. I obtained my PhD from
the Department of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine at McGill University where I
studied the molecular pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases. For my post-doctoral studies,
I examined the impact of aging on cardiovascular function. I continued such research on vascular
aging at the biotechnology company, Geron Corporation where I made a number of insights into
the role of telomeres in tracking vascular aging, into the development of various non-radioactive
bioassays to telomeres, and into the characterization of the RNA- and protein-components to
telomerase. At Stanford, I studied the role of physiological states (hypoxia, inflammation),
cytokines (e.g.VEGF, SDF-1α) and other molecules (nicotine, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors)
on modulating the activation and mobilization of adult-derived stem cells (endothelial,
hematopoietic and adipocytic) and the subsequent impact on vascular function. With
the Department of Radiology, I have employed a number of radiotracers (developed at
Stanford) to follow neovascularization in growing tumors. I have leveraged these basic
investigations into examining the appropriateness of non-invasive imaging techniques
as therapy monitoring strategies to track the effectiveness of known and experimental
anti-cancer drugs. I have also extended therapy monitoring and imaging strategies to look
at novel treatments to glioblastomas. Chief among those treatments are interventions with
Withaferin A, a lactonal steroid derived from the Winter Cherry tree or with alternating
electric fields (Tumor Treating Fields or TTFields) or a combination of both. I have also
investigated circulating protein biomarkers that track the response to therapy by tyrosine-kinase
inhibitors (gefitinib, icontinib) against non-small cell lung cancers. Recent endeavors involve
exploring the utility of transducing CD70/CXCR2 CAR T-Cells with HSVTK1 reporter genes
to track cells via [18F]FHBG-PET into human Glioblastomas (GBM). We are also exploring
the modality of MRI to track CAR T-cells into GBM. Other CAR T-Cells tracking strategies in
GBM are currently ongoing.

18 5 International TPCF Preclinical Imaging Symposium (2022)
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