Nanosensor technologies for molecular analyses of circulating biomarkers
基于纳米传感器技术对循环生物标志物进行分子分析
Huilin SHAO（邵慧琳）
ABSRACT
The growing emphasis on personalized medicine significantly increases the need to analyze key molecular markers. In comparison to tissue biopsies, circulating biomarkers (liquid biopsies) can be conveniently and repeatedly obtained from biofluids with minimal complications. In particular, exosomes have recently emerged as a promising circulating biomarker. Exosomes are nanometer-sized membrane vesicles actively shed off by cells and possess unique advantages: they abound in biofluids and harbor diverse molecular contents (e.g., proteins and nucleic acids). In this talk, I will describe various nanosensor systems that we have developed for quantitative analyses of diverse circulating biomarkers. These technologies integrate advances in molecular biology, nanomaterial sciences and device engineering. By enabling rapid, sensitive and cost-effective detection of circulating biomarkers, these platforms could significantly expand the reach of preclinical and clinical research, in informing therapy selection, rationally directing trials, and improving sequential monitoring to achieve better clinical outcomes.
对个性化医学的日益重视极大地增加了分析关键分子标志物的需求。与组织活检相比，循环生物标志物（液体活检）可以从体液中方便且重复地获得，而且并发症最少。其中，值得一提的是，外泌体作为新兴的循环生物标志物吸引了越来越多的关注。外泌体是由活细胞分泌的一种纳米尺寸的细胞外囊泡，其具有独特的优势：在体液中含量高，并携带多种分子成分（例如蛋白质和核酸）。在本次报告中，我将主要介绍我们研究小组开发的几种用于定量分析各种循环生物标志物的纳米传感器。这些技术结合了分子生物学，纳米材料科学和器件工程等方面的优势，对循环生物标志物进行快速，灵敏和经济高效地检测。同时显著地扩大了临床前和临床研究的范围，为治疗方案的选择提供有效信息，也通过合理指导试验以及改善临床监测顺序来实现更好的临床效果。
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Huilin Shao is Presidential Young Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Principal Investigator, Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech), National University of Singapore. Dr. Shao received her BA from Cornell University, with a double major in Biological Sciences and in Physics. She completed her dual PhD (Biophysics) at Harvard University and PhD (Medical Engineering) from Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology (HST). Her research focuses on developing integrated nanotechnology-based platforms for molecular analyses of novel biomarkers. She has pioneered multiple platform technologies to advance molecular diagnostics. These novel technologies have the potential to not only transform clinical practice, but also empower patient care. Her work has been published in top journals such as Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications and highlighted in major reviews and popular news media. In recognition of her achievement, Dr. Shao has received multiple awards, including James Mills Pierce Award, A*STAR Independent Fellowship, NUS Early Career Research Award, the L’Oreal For Women in Science National Fellowship, the 2019 Singapore Presidential Young Scientist Award and Springer-Nature MINE Young Scientist Award (2020).
邵慧琳博士为新加坡国立大学生物医学工程系的青年总统教授 (Presidential Young Professor)，以及医疗健康创新与科技研究院（iHealthtech）的首席研究员。邵慧琳博士本科就读于美国康奈尔大学，获得了生物科学系和物理系的双学士学位。之后，她在哈佛大学和哈佛-麻省理工医疗科技学院 (Harvard-MIT HST) 取得了生物物理学和医学工程的双博士学位。她的课题组主要致力于开发对新型生物标志物进行分子分析的纳米传感器系统，率先结合了多种平台技术来推进分子诊断。这些先进的技术不仅仅在转变临床实践的领域显示出巨大的潜力，同时也改善了对患者的护理。研究工作在Nature Biotechnology， Nature Medicine，Nature Biomedical Engineering，Nature Communications等顶级期刊上发表，并且有多篇文献综述和主流媒体对其成果以及突破性进展进行了亮点报道。为表彰她的成就，邵慧琳博士获得了多个奖项，包括James Mills Pierce奖，新加坡科技研究院独立研究奖学金，新加坡国立大学青年研究者奖，欧莱雅女科学家奖学金，2019年新加坡青年科学家总统奖和2020 Springer Nature MINE青年学者成就奖。