Contact Information
Department of Physics525 Northwestern Avenue
West Lafayette, IN
47907-2036
Map and Directions
Telephone:
(765) 494-2970
Fax:
(765) 494-0706
Linda Nie
School of Health Sciences, Purdue University
Noninvasive In Vivo Quantification of Metals in Human Tissues
 |
Tuesday November 01, 2011
3:30pm PHYS 242
Coffee at 3:15PM in the same room
http://www.healthsciences.purdue.edu/people/faculty.php?uid=hnieThe broad applications of metals in industry, agriculture, manufacture, and other fields have dramatically increased metal exposure to a large portion of human population over the last several decades. Studies have linked metal exposure to various diseases, ranging from cardiovascular diseases and cancer to hypertension and neurodevelopmental problems. Metal concentration in human tissues provides unique information regarding metal exposure. In addition, the concentrations and distributions of certain metals and elements in diseased tissue may provide unique information to diagnose some diseases such as neurodegeneration diseases and cancer at early stages. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and neutron activation analysis (NAA) are two powerful noninvasive techniques for in vivo quantification of metals. In this presentation, Dr. Nie will briefly introduce several systems available for in vivo metal quantification. She will then talk about some in progress projects in my lab on the development and validation of noninvasive in vivo technologies to quantify metals in human tissues. Specifically, she will talk about the development of a portable XRF system to quantify multiple metals in human bone and skin in vivo, and a transportable NAA system to quantify manganese in human bone in vivo. A briefly description of the future plans for this line of research will be presented in the end.