About

Weissleder, Ralph, MD, PhD

Ralph_weissleder
Phone: 617-726-8226
Email: rweissleder@mgh.harvard.edu
Lab: Weissleder

Research

Ralph Weissleder serves as the Director of the Center for Systems Biology at MGH. He is a Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Center for Molecular Imaging Research, and Attending Clinician (Interventional Radiology) at MGH. Dr. Weissleder is also a member of the Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center, an Associate Member of the Broad Institute (Chemical Biology Program) and a member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI). He is a world leader in applying molecular imaging tools to the study of complex human diseases. He has made fundamental discoveries in early disease detection, development of nanomaterials for sensing and systems analysis. His research has been translational and several of his developments have led to advanced clinical trials.

Dr. Weissleder is currently the principal investigator of several RO1 NIH grants, a P50 Center grant, a U24 grant, and a UO1 consortium focusing on nanotechnology. He has published over 500 publications in peer reviewed journals. His work has been honored with numerous awards including the J. Taylor International Prize in Medicine, the Millenium Pharmaceuticals Innovator Award, the AUR Memorial Award, the ARRS President's Award, The Society for Molecular Imaging Lifetime Achievement Award and the Academy of Molecular Imaging 2006 Distinguished Basic Scientist Award.

Publications

Weissleder R, Pittet MJ
Imaging in the era of molecular oncology
Nature. 2008;452:580-589 - PMID: 18385732 - PMCID: PMC2708079
Lee H, Sun E, Ham D, Weissleder R
Chip-NMR biosensor for detection and molecular analysis of cells.
Nat Med. 2008;14(8):869-74 - PMID: 18607350 - PMCID: PMC2729055
Engelman JA, Chen L, Tan X, Crosby K, Guimaraes AR, Upadhyay R, Maira M, McNamara K, Perera SA, Song Y, Chirieac LR, Kaur R, Lightbown A, Simendinger J, Li T, Padera RF, Garcia-Echeverria C, Weissleder R, Mahmood U, Cantley LC, Wong KK
Effective use of PI3K and MEK inhibitors to treat mutant Kras G12D and PIK3CA H1047R murine lung cancers.
Nat Med. 2008;14(12)::1351-1356 - PMID: 19029981 - PMCID: PMC2683415
Wurdinger T, Tannous BA, Saydam O, Skog J, Grau S, Soutschek J, Weissleder R, Breakefield XO, Krichevsky AM
miR-296 Regulates Growth Factor Receptor Overexpression in Angiogenic Endothelial Cells.
Cancer Cell. 2008;14(5):382-393 - PMID: 18977327 - PMCID: PMC2597164
Cortez-Retamozo V, Swirski FK, Waterman P, Yuan H, Figueiredo JL, Newton AP, Upadhyay R, Vinegoni C, Kohler R, Blois J, Smith A, Nahrendorf M, Josephson L, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ
Real-time assessment of inflammation and treatment response in a mouse model of allergic airway inflammation
J Clin Invest. 2008;:ePub - PMID: 18989378 - PMCID: PMC2579705
Wurdinger T, Badr C, Pike L, de Kleine R, Weissleder R, Breakefield XO, Tannous BA
A secreted luciferase for ex vivo monitoring of in vivo processes.
Nat Methods. 2008;5:171-173 - PMID: 18204457 - PMCID: PMC2699561
Nahrendorf M*, Sosnovik D*, Chen JW, Panizzi P, Figueiredo JL, Aikawa E, Libby P, Swirski FK, Weissleder R
Activatable Magnetic Resonance Imaging Agent Reports Myeloperoxidase Activity in Healing Infarcts and Noninvasively Detects the Antiinflammatory Effects of Atorvastatin on Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.
Circulation. 2008;117(9):1153-60 - PMID: 18268141 - PMCID: PMC2673051
Nahrendorf M, Zhang H, Hembrador S, Panizzi P, Sosnovik D, Aikawa E, Libby P, Swirski F, Weissleder R.
Nanoparticle PET-CT imaging of macrophages in inflammatory atherosclerosis
Circulation. 2008;117:379-387 - PMID: 18158358 - PMCID: PMC2663426
Kircher M, Grimm J, Swirski FK, Libby P, Gerszten R, Allport J, Weissleder R
Noninvasive in vivo imaging of monocyte trafficking to atherosclerotic lesions.
Circulation. 2008;117:388-395 - PMID: 18172031 - PMCID: PMC2705289
Jaffer FA, Vinegoni C, John MC, Aikawa E, Gold HK, Finn AV, Ntziachristos V, Libby P, Weissleder R
Real-Time Catheter Molecular Sensing of Inflammation in Proteolytically Active Atherosclerosis.
Circulation. 2008;118(18):1802-9 - PMID: 18852366 - PMCID: PMC2729441
Kelly KA, Bardeesy N, Anbazhagan R, Gurumurthy S, Berger J, Alencar H, Depinho RA, Mahmood U, Weissleder R
Targeted Nanoparticles for Imaging Incipient Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma.
PLoS Med. 2008;5(4):e85 - PMID: 18416599 - PMCID: PMC2292750
Korosoglou G, Weiss RG, Kedziorek DA, Walczak P, Gilson WD, Schar M, Sosnovik DE, Kraitchman DL, Boston RC, Bulte JW, Weissleder R, Stuber M
Noninvasive detection of macrophage-rich atherosclerotic plaque in hyperlipidemic rabbits using positive contrast magnetic resonance imaging.
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2008;52:483-91 - PMID: 18672170 - PMCID: PMC2628468
Koh I, Hong R, Weissleder R, Josephson L
Sensitive NMR Sensors Detect Antibodies to Influenza.
Angew Chem Int Edit. 2008;47(22):4119-4121 - PMID: 18428168 - PMCID: PMC2668198
Shaw SY, Westly EC, Pittet MJ, Subramanian A, Schreiber SL, Weissleder R
Perturbational profiling of nanomaterial biologic activity.
P Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008;105:7387-7392 - PMID: 18492802 - PMCID: PMC2396702
Niedre MJ, de Kleine RH, Aikawa E, Kirsch DG, Weissleder R, Ntziachristos V
Early photon tomography allows fluorescence detection of lung carcinomas and disease progression in mice in vivo.
P Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008;105(49)::19126-19131 - PMID: 19015534 - PMCID: PMC2614726
Zhu H, Acquaviva J, Ramachandran P, Boskovitz A, Woolfenden S, Bronson R, Chen J, Weissleder R, Housman D, Charest A.
Oncogenic EGFR signaling cooperates with loss of tumor suppressor gene function in gliomagenesis
PNAS. 2008;:ePub
Breckwoldt M*, Chen JW*, Stangenberg L, Aikawa E, Rodriguez E, Qiu S, Moskowitz M, Weissleder R
Tracking the Inflammatory Response in Stroke in Vivo by Sensing the Enzyme Myeloperoxidase
P Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008;105 (47):18584-18589 - PMID: 19011099 - PMCID: PMC2587593
Chen JW, Breckwoldt MO, Aikawa E, Chiang G, Weissleder R
Myeloperoxidase-targeted imaging of active inflammatory lesions in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Brain. 2008;131(Pt 4):1123-33 - PMID: 18234693
McCarthy JR, Weissleder R
Multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles for targeted imaging and therapy.
Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2008;60:1241-1251 - PMID: 18508157 - PMCID: PMC2583936
Kelly KA, Setlur SR, Ross R, Anbazhagan R, Waterman P, Rubin MA, Weissleder R
Detection of early prostate cancer using a hepsin-targeted imaging agent.
Cancer Res. 2008;68(7):2286-91 - PMID: 18381435 - PMCID: PMC2709884
Shah K, Hingtgen S, Kasmieh R, Figueiredo JL, Garcia-Garcia E, Martinez-Serrano A, Breakefield X, Weissleder R
Bimodal viral vectors and in vivo imaging reveal the fate of human neural stem cells in experimental glioma model.
J Neurosci. 2008;28:4406-13 - PMID: 18434519
Nahrendorf M, Aikawa E, Figueiredo JL, Stangenberg L, van den Borne S, Blankesteijn M, Sosnovik D, Jaffer F, Tung CH, Weissleder R
Transglutaminase activity in acute infarcts predicts healing outcome and let ventricular remodelling : implications for FXIII therapy and antithrombin use in myocardial infarction
Eur Heart J. 2008;29:445-454 - PMID: 18276618
Girnun GD, Chen L, Silvaggi J, Drapkin R, Chirieac LR, Padera RF, Upadhyay R, Vafai SB, Weissleder R, Mahmood U, Naseri E, Buckley S, Li D, Force J, McNamara K, Demetri G, Spiegelman BM, Wong KK
Regression of drug-resistant lung cancer by the combination of rosiglitazone and Carboplatin.
Clin Cancer Res. 2008;14(20):6478-86 - PMID: 18927287 - PMCID: PMC2696122
Perez JM, Grimm J, Josephson L, Weissleder R
Integrated nanosensors to determine levels and functional activity of human telomerase.
Neoplasia. 2008;10(10):1066-72 - PMID: 18813356 - PMCID: PMC2546593
Korosoglou G, Shah S, Vonken EJ, Gilson WD, Schar M, Tang L, Kraitchman DL, Boston RC, Sosnovik DE, Weiss RG, Weissleder R, Stuber M
Off-Resonance Angiography: A New Method to Depict Vessels--Phantom and Rabbit Studies.
Radiology. 2008;249(2)::501-509 - PMID: 18780823 - PMCID: PMC2657865
Gee MS, Upadhyay R, Bergquist H, Alencar H, Reynolds F, Maricevich M, Weissleder R, Josephson L, Mahmood U
Human Breast Cancer Tumor Models: Molecular Imaging of Drug Susceptibility and Dosing during HER2/neu-targeted Therapy.
Radiology. 2008;248(3):925-35 - PMID: 18647846
Garanger E, Aikawa E, Reynolds F, Weissleder R, Josephson L
Simplified syntheses of complex multifunctional nanomaterials.
Chem Commun. 2008;39:4792-4 - PMID: 18830495 - PMCID: PMC2692914
Blois J, Yuan H, Smith A, Pacold ME, Weissleder R, Cantley LC, Josephson L
Slow Self-Activation Enhances The Potency of Viridin Prodrugs.
J Med Chem. 2008;51(15):4699-707 - PMID: 18630894 - PMCID: PMC2663427
Hingtgen S, Ren X, Terwilliger E, Classon M, Weissleder R, Shah K
Targeting multiple pathways in gliomas with stem cell and viral delivered S-TRAIL and Temozolomide.
Mol Cancer Ther. 2008;7(11):3575-85 - PMID: 19001440 - PMCID: PMC2748233
Sosnovik DE, Nahrendorf M, Weissleder R
Targeted imaging of myocardial damage.
Nat Clin Pract Card. 2008;5 Suppl 2:S63-70 - PMID: 18641609 - PMCID: PMC2597275
Barnes KR, Blois J, Smith A, Yuan H, Reynolds F, Weissleder R, Cantley LC, Josephson L
Fate of a Bioactive Fluorescent Wortmannin Derivative in Cells.
Bioconjugate Chem. 2008;19:130-137 - PMID: 17988080
Hilderbrand SA, Kelly KA, Niedre M, Weissleder R
Near Infrared Fluorescence-Based Bacteriophage Particles for Ratiometric pH Imaging.
Bioconjugate Chem. 2008;19(8):1635-9 - PMID: 18666791 - PMCID: PMC2705288
Devaraj N, Weissleder R, Hilderbrand S
Tetrazine-Based Cycloadditions: Application to Pretargeted Live Cell Imaging.
Bioconjugate Chem. 2008;19(12):2297-2299 - PMID: 19053305 - PMCID: PMC2677645
Shao F, Weissleder R, Hilderbrand SA
Monofunctional Carbocyanine Dyes for Bio- and Bioorthogonal Conjugation.
Bioconjugate Chem. 2008;19(12): :2487-2491 - PMID: 19053316 - PMCID: PMC2656649
Sosnovik DE, Nahrendorf M, Weissleder R
Magnetic nanoparticles for MR imaging: agents, techniques and cardiovascular applications.
Basic Res Cardiol. 2008;103(2):122-30 - PMID: 18324368 - PMCID: PMC2597271
Nahrendorf M, Sosnovik DE, Weissleder R
MR-optical imaging of cardiovascular molecular targets.
Basic Res Cardiol. 2008;103:87-94 - PMID: 18324364 - PMCID: PMC2664635
Figueiredo JL, Passerotti CC, Sponholtz T, Nguyen HT, Weissleder R
A Novel Method of Imaging Calcium Urolithiasis Using Fluorescence.
J Urolology. 2008;179:1610-1614 - PMID: 18295253
Taktak S, Weissleder R, Josephson L
Electrode Chemistry Yields a Nanoparticle-Based NMR Sensor for Calcium.
Langmuir. 2008;24 (14):7596-7598 - PMID: 18558729 - PMCID: PMC2748273
Salthouse C, Hilderbrand S, Weissleder R, Mahmood U
Design and demonstration of a small-animal up-conversion imager.
Optics Express. 2008;16 (26):21731-7 - PMID: 19104605 - PMCID: PMC2717740
Hong R, Cima MJ, Weissleder R, Josephson L
Magnetic microparticle aggregation for viscosity determination by MR.
Magn Reson Med. 2008;59:515-520 - PMID: 18306403 - PMCID: PMC2740908
Gounaris E, Tung CH, Restaino C, Maehr R, Kohler R, Joyce JA, Plough HL, Barrett TA, Weissleder R, Khazaie K
Live imaging of cysteine-cathepsin activity reveals dynamics of focal inflammation, angiogenesis, and polyp growth.
PLoS ONE. 2008;3:e2916 - PMID: 18698347 - PMCID: PMC2488397
Jeong JH, Wang Z, Guimaraes AS, Ouyang X, Figueiredo JL, Ding Z, Jiang S, Guney I, Kang GH, Shin E, Hahn WC, Loda MF, Abate-Shen C, Weissleder R, Chin L
BRAF activation initiates but does not maintain invasive prostate adenocarcinoma.
PLoS ONE. 2008;3(12):e3949 - PMID: 19079609 - PMCID: PMC2597248
Guimaraes AR, Rakhlin E, Weissleder R, Thayer SP
Magnetic resonance imaging monitors physiological changes with antihedgehog therapy in pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft model.
Pancreas. 2008;37(4):440-4 - PMID: 18953259
Korosoglou G, Tang L, Kedziorek D, Cosby K, Gilson WD, Vonken EJ, Schar M, Sosnovik D, Kraitchman DL, Weiss RG, Weissleder R, Stuber M
Positive contrast MR-lymphography using inversion recovery with ON-resonant water suppression (IRON).
J Magn Reson Imaging. 2008;27(5):1175-1180 - PMID: 18425827 - PMCID: PMC2740932
Guimaraes AR, Tabatabei S, Dahl D, McDougal WS, Weissleder R, Harisinghani MG
Pilot Study Evaluating Use of Lymphotrophic Nanoparticle-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Assessing Lymph Nodes in Renal Cell Cancer.
Urology. 2008;71(4):708-12 - PMID: 18295316
Korngold EC, Jaffer FA, Weissleder R, Sosnovik DE
Noninvasive imaging of apoptosis in cardiovascular disease.
Heart Fail Rev. 2008;13(2)::163-173 - PMID: 18074226 - PMCID: PMC2597223
Rusanescu G, Weissleder R, Aikawa E
Notch Signaling in Cardiovascular Disease and Calcification
Curr Cardiol Review. 2008;4(3):148-156
Lin KY, Maricevich M, Bardeesy N, Weissleder R, Mahmood U
In vivo quantitative microvasculature phenotype imaging of healthy and malignant tissues using a fiber-optic confocal laser microprobe.
Transl Oncol. 2008;1:84-94 - PMID: 18633456 - PMCID: PMC2510813
Salthouse CD, Weissleder R, Mahmood U
Development of a Time Domain Fluorimeter for Fluorescent Lifetime Multiplexing Analysis.
IEEE Trans Biomed Circuits Syst. 2008;2(3):204-211 - PMID: 19830273 - PMCID: PMC2760943

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