BME Lecture Series (Zoom): Conor Evans, Harvard University

Visualizing and Quantifying Cutaneous Pharmacokinetics with Advanced Microscopy

Abstract: Tracking the uptake and effects of drugs on the microscale in tissue is challenging. We are exploring the use of coherent Raman imaging methods to specifically visualize, track and quantify the dynamic uptake of drugs and their formulations within tissue. By leveraging deep learning, we can extract pharmacokinetic parameters that reveal not only values such as Cmax and Tmax, but also the rates of downward flux between regions and compartments. We are now extending this approach to image and quantify both pharmacokinetics and the resulting pharmacodynamics, with an initial focus on skin inflammation disorders. New portable coherent Raman imaging systems are now being prepared for first in-human clinical studies directly assessing drug uptake in both healthy volunteers and patients to understand the microscale changes that impact both drug uptake and treatment effects. 

Bio: Conor L. Evans is an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, an affiliated faculty member of the Harvard University Biophysics Program, a faculty member of the Laser Biomedical Research Center, and leader of his lab at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. Evans received his bachelor's degree in chemical physics from Brown University and his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University. Hi lab’s research is focused on the development and clinical translation of optical microscopy and spectroscopy tools, with specific interests in ultrasensitive detection of molecular markers, label-free imaging of drugs and tissues, and the imaging and quantification of tissue oxygenation.