The University of Akron

Researcher Adam Smith uses a new photon-counting technique to observe clusters of EGFR, a protein common in lung and colon cancers and glioblastoma, through this microscope. Target: Cancer Chemistry professor's microscopy aims at rogue proteins For scientists to improve cancer treatments with targeted therapeutic drugs, they need to see proteins prevalent in the cancer cells. This has been impossible, until now. Thanks to a new microscopy technique, University of Akron researcher Dr. Adam Smith, assistant professor of chemistry, has observed how clusters of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) — a protein abundant in lung and colon cancers, glioblastoma and others — malfunctions in cancer cells. "We can directly observe protein clusters in a living cell membrane that are invisible to traditional methods. This opens up the possibility measuring directly the effect of drugs on the target proteins," Smith says. Specifically, Smith used a cutting-edge photon-counting technique that enables scientists to measure the cluster size of EGFR proteins. » UA grad on the world stage Igor Petrovich (right), a 2011 UA graduate who majored in political science, worked this past summer at the highest level of international law as a member of the defense team for the former president of the Republic of Srpska (Serbia) at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He is now a law student at Georgetown University. He is pictured here with a defense team co-worker. 12 The technique represents a significant advancement from studying the cultures with a traditional microscope, which cannot visually capture objects as small as the EGFR clusters. Smith published an article on the subject this year in the journal Cell. Smith's subsequent work studying the interaction of drugs with the targeted EGFR "will significantly improve drug discovery, which too often relies on indirect measure of efficacy," he says. Partners in Smith's research include scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University. The National Cancer Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the U.S. Department of Energy provided funding. The top portion of this illustration shows a 3-D image of the cells Dr. Adam Smith, and his team observe. By focusing a laser onto the cell membrane, and using the new photon-counting technique, they can measure the cluster size of EGFR proteins, which are prevalent in some common cancers. The new technique, developed by Smith, allows scientists to measure clustering at the level of individual proteins, as shown in the bottom portion of the image. Due to their small size, EGFR clusters cannot be measured using a traditional microscope.

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