Research Summary
Dr. Bhujwalla’s research is dedicated to the applications of molecular and functional imaging to understand and target cancer and the tumor microenvironment.
Significant research contributions include:
- Developing ‘theranostic agents’ for image-guided precision targeting of cancer including delivery of siRNA, cDNA, prodrug enzymes, and phototherapy agents,
- Understanding the role of inflammation and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in cancer using molecular and functional imaging,
- Developing noninvasive imaging techniques to detect COX-2 expression in tumors,
- Understanding the role of hypoxia and choline metabolism in stem-like breast cancer cells,
- Using molecular and functional imaging to understand the role of the tumor microenvironment including the extracellular matrix, hypoxia, vascularization, and choline phospholipid metabolism in cancer invasion and metastasis,
- Molecular and functional imaging characterization of cancer-induced cachexia to understand the cachexia-cascade and identify novel targets in the treatment of this condition,
- Development of cancer cell membrane coated nanoparticles to disrupt cancer cell-stromal cell interactions and induce an immune response.
Core Facility:
Cancer Functional Imaging Core
Clinical Trials
Learn more about clinical trials at Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Selected Publications
View all on PubMed
1. Aboagye, E. and Bhujwalla, Z. M. Malignant Transformation Alters Membrane Phospholipid Metabolism of Human Mammary Epithelial Cells. Cancer Research, 59: 80-84, 1999. PRIOR TO 2008
2. Stasinopoulos I, O'Brien DR, Wildes F, Glunde K, and Bhujwalla ZM. Silencing of cyclooxygenase-2 inhibits metastasis and delays tumor onset of poorly differentiated metastatic breast cancer cells. Mol Cancer Res. 5: 435-42, 2007.
3. Chen Z, Penet MF, Nimmagadda S, Li C, Banerjee SR, Winnard PT Jr, Artemov D, Glunde K, Pomper MG, Bhujwalla ZM. PSMA-Targeted Theranostic Nanoplex for Prostate Cancer Therapy. ACS Nano. 6: 7752-62, 2012. PMCID:PMC4066818
4. Krishnamachary B, Penet MF, Nimmagadda S, Mironchik Y, Raman V, Solaiyappan M, Semenza GL, Pomper MG, Bhujwalla ZM. Hypoxia regulates CD44 and its variant isoforms through HIF-1α in triple negative breast cancer. PLoS One. 7: e44078, 2012. PMCID:PMC3429433
5. Winnard PT Jr, Bharti S, Penet MF, Marik R, Mironchik Y, Wildes F, Maitra A, Bhujwalla ZM. Detection of Pancreatic Cancer-induced Cachexia using a Fluorescent Myoblast Reporter System and Analysis of Metabolite Abundance. Cancer Res. 2016; 6(6):1441-50. PMCID: PMC4794402