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Real-time monitoring of tumor-homing bacteria and tumor cells in vivo using ultrasound

By screening natural prokaryotic gas vesicle gene clusters, we found and engineered new acoustic reporter genes (ARGs) that give bacteria and mammalian cells brighter ultrasound contrast for real-time noninvasive imaging. Expressing these ARGs in engineered cells enabled us to image tumor-homing bacteria and perform genetically guided tumor biopsies in vivo.

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Fig. 1: Ultrasound imaging of ARG expression in vivo.

References

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This is a summary of: Hurt, R. C. et al. Genomically mined acoustic reporter genes for real time in vivo monitoring of tumors and tumor-homing bacteria. Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01581-y (2023).

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Real-time monitoring of tumor-homing bacteria and tumor cells in vivo using ultrasound. Nat Biotechnol 41, 913–914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-022-01590-x

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