Academic Title:
Assistant Professor
Primary Appointment:
Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine
Additional Title:
Assistant Professor
Email:
Location:
670 W. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201
Phone (Primary):
410-706-5967
Education and Training
2014 - 2018 Research Associate, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, NY
2012 - 2014 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Stanford University, CA
2007 - 2011 PhD Biochemistry, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK
2004 - 2007 BA (Hons) Natural Science, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, UK
Biosketch
My lab is interested in the intersection of signaling pathways and metabolism, with the ultimate aim to translate these findings for novel metabolic imaging applications.
Hyperpolarized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (HP-MRS) is a unqiue metabolic imaging platform that enables real-time, non-invasive detection of metabolic flux in living cells and model organisms. I have pioneered the development of reporter genes for HP-MRS by genetically modifying cells to over-express bacterial and mammalian enzymes. Leveraging my expertise in molecular biology, I am now investigating growth factor signaling and metabolic pathways.
Specifically, I am interested in using targeted therapeutics to inhibit specific pathways mutated in cancers and metabolic disease and investigating the consequence of inhibition. Using this information, we will design novel metabolic imaging probes for both diagnosing/staging cancer and other diseases, as well as assessing treatment response and development of resistance.
Research/Clinical Keywords
Metabolism, Hyperpolarized, Magnetic resonance imaging, Magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Cancer, Gene reporter, Biochemistry, Fructose, Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, NAFLD, steatosis, NASH, steatohepatitis, Hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC, liver cancer, ketohexokinase, fructokinase
Highlighted Publications
a) Patrick, P.S., Hammersley, J., Loizou, L., Kettunen, M.I., Rodrigues, T.B., Hu, D.E., Tee. S.S., Hesketh, R., Lyons, S.K., Soloviev, D., Lewis, D.Y., Aime, S., Fulton, S.M., Brindle, K.M., Dual-modality gene reporter for in vivo imaging, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (2014)
b) Ye, D., Shuhendler, AJ., Cui, L., Tong, L., Tee, S.S., Tikhomirov, G., Felsher, D.W., Rao, J., Bioorthogonal cyclization-mediated in situ self-assembly of small-molecule probes for imaging caspase activity in vivo. Nat. Chem. (2014)
c) Dzien, P.,* Tee, S.S., * Kettunen, M.I., Lyons, S.K., Larkin T., Hu, D.E., Rodrigues, T.B., Serrao, E., Marco-Rius, I., Mannion, E., D‘Santos, P., Kennedy, B.W., Brindle K.M., 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy measurements with hyperpolarized [1-13C] pyruvate can be used to detect the expression of transgenic pyruvate decarboxylase activity in vivo, Magn. Reson. Med. (2015)
d) Digialleonardo, V., Tee, S.S., Aldeborgh, H., Eskandari, E., Jeong, S., Poot, A., Truong, S., Alvarez, J.A., Keshari, K.R., High-throughput indirect quantitation of 13C enriched metabolites using 1H NMR, Anal. Chem. (2016)
e) Tee, S.S., Digialleonardo, V., Eskandari, E., Jeong, S., Poot, A., Truong, S., Alvarez, J.A., Aldeborgh, H., Keshari, K.R., Sampling Hyperpolarized Molecules Utilizing a 1 Tesla Permanent Magnet. Sci. Rep. (2016)
f) Tee, S.S., Park, J., Billingsley, K., Josan, S., Hurd, R., Spielman, D., 2-deoxyglucose sensitizes cancer cells to PKM2 activation, Oncotarget (2017)
g) Tee, S.S., Suster, I., Truong, S., Digialleonardo, V., Eskandari, R., Jeong, S., Alvarez, J.A., Aldeborgh, H., Keshari, K.R., Targeted AKT inhibition in prostate cancer cells and spheroids reduces aerobic glycolysis and conversion of hyperpolarized [1-13C] pyruvate to [1-13C] lactate. Mol. Cancer Res. (2018)
h) Cell Metab. (2019)
Hyperpolarized MRI of Human Prostate Cancer Reveals Increased Lactate with Tumor Grade Driven by Monocarboxylate Transporter 1.Ketohexokinase-mediated fructose metabolism is lost in hepatocellular carcinoma and can be leveraged for metabolic imaging. Sci Adv. (2022)
j) Elsaid S, Wu, X, Tee SS(2024)
Grants and Contracts
NIH National Cancer Institute R21CA245492-01A1, Principal Investigator
NIH National Institute of Aging R21AG084142, mPI
Links of Interest
Job Opportunities
We are always interested in having motivated individuals join our research team! Currently, there are postdoctoral and research assistant openings. Please send an email to discuss mutual interests.