BIOLUMINESCENCE
	Harnessing the glow-in-the-dark chemistry of fireflies, Christopher Contag, PhD, has developed a new technique for studying gene activation and cell movement as they occur in living mammals.

Program researchers are developing novel imaging methods to study the underlying mechanisms of cancer biology and anti-cancer drug efficacy. A key goal of their work is to develop tools to monitor cell trafficking, the behavior of cancer stem cells and the complex interaction between the immune system and cancer.

This work is carried out in collaboration with researchers from Molecular Profiling, Cancer Immunology, Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Lymphoma & Hodgkin's Disease, Cancer Stem Cell Biology, Radiation Biology and Cancer Biology.

Visit the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) website for more information about research on cancer biology and treatment efficacy (http://mips.stanford.edu).

Scientific Goals

• Developing novel methods to study interactions between the immune systems and cancer as well as methods to image cell trafficking and cancer stem cells
• Development of new methods to study anti-cancer drug efficacy in living subjects

Program Researchers

Francis Blankenberg, MD Helen Blau, PhD Matthew Bogyo, PhD Kim Butts, PhD Christopher Contag, PhD Gary Glover, PhD

I. Ross McDougall, MD, PhD Michael Moseley, PhD Norbert Pelc, ScD F. Graham Sommer, MD Daniel Spielman, PhD