GSK Center - Information
GSK Center - Information
GSK COMI Software: biophotonics.illinois.edu
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Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)
Carle Foundation Hospital
Description - Advances in optical imaging now offer an unprecedented opportunity to visualize the in vivo structural, functional, and molecular properties of cells and tissues, to identify drugs and track delivery, and to monitor and quantify efficacy. These technologies are highly translational, from cell-based assays to pre-clinical investigations to human clinical studies. To leverage these state-of-the-art advances in the laboratory that precede commercial instrumentation, the Center for Optical Molecular Imaging was established, sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in collaboration with the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the Beckman Institute and Carle Foundation Hospital at Urbana-Champaign.
Goal – The major goal of this Center is to create an international GSK resource for drug delivery and efficacy investigations in the skin by developing and utilizing advanced optical molecular imaging technologies. The significance and impact of these technologies for GSK is realized for drug identification and tracking in vivo, quantifying therapeutic responses, validating claims, and establishing competitive marketing strategies. The application of these technologies for understanding fundamental biological, physiological, and medical dermatological disease processes is recognized as being of important academic research and teaching value to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and of important clinical research and teaching value to Carle Foundation Hospital.
Partnership – This Center represents a new model for academic-industry-clinical partnerships, and will be associated and co-located with the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory, directed by Prof. Stephen Boppart, M.D., Ph.D. The development of imaging technologies and their applications for cell, animal, and human dermatology drug studies will be done in partnership between academic personnel in the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory and GSK investigators, as well as with clinical dermatology physicians and staff at Carle Foundation Hospital.