I moved here two years ago from nearly a lifetime on the west coast, most recently Portland, Oregon. I love Missouri and the midwest. In fact, I don't think I would have come upon this area of research if I hadn't been at the University of Missouri. The spirit of collaboration is so great here, I routinely work with people in the College of Agriculture, Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and School of Medicine. It's a great environment and I think the openness and friendliness of the people of the midwest has a lot to do with it.
Haven't heard of Dr. Garcia, but I hope to cross paths with him as I continue my work in Dermatology. John
I'm glad you're doing well. We are also working on a method to more precisely define basal cell carcinoma borders so that when a patient needs such a lesion removed, we can preserve as much healthy skin as possible. John Viator Assistant Professor Biological Engineering and Dermatology University of Missouri, Columbia
We actually used an optical parametric oscillator pumped by the third harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser...meaning the laser wavelength range was from 410-710 nanometers. You'd only get mutagenesis from a UV light source so we couldn't cause cancer in the sample. Besides, the laser irradiates a portion of cells separated from the blood sample. So the patient would never be exposed to the laser light.
John Viator
Assistant Professor,
Biological Engineering and Dermatology
University of Missouri, Columbia
This test can determine the relative number of circulating melanoma cells, so it can indicate response to treatment, remission, or relapse, so it may have value to the oncologist managing treatment of Stage IV melanoma patients. You are right, catching melanoma before metastasis is key, but for the advanced cases, this could be an important test. There's lots of work to do, but I think this is a promising technique. There certainly is a lot of clinical interest in my work.
John Viator
Assistant Professor,
Biological Engineering and Dermatology
University of Missouri, Columbia
Slashdot Mirror
I moved here two years ago from nearly a lifetime on the west coast, most recently Portland, Oregon. I love Missouri and the midwest. In fact, I don't think I would have come upon this area of research if I hadn't been at the University of Missouri. The spirit of collaboration is so great here, I routinely work with people in the College of Agriculture, Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and School of Medicine. It's a great environment and I think the openness and friendliness of the people of the midwest has a lot to do with it.
Haven't heard of Dr. Garcia, but I hope to cross paths with him as I continue my work in Dermatology.
John
I'm glad you're doing well. We are also working on a method to more precisely define basal cell carcinoma borders so that when a patient needs such a lesion removed, we can preserve as much healthy skin as possible.
John Viator
Assistant Professor
Biological Engineering and Dermatology
University of Missouri, Columbia
We actually used an optical parametric oscillator pumped by the third harmonic of an Nd:YAG laser...meaning the laser wavelength range was from 410-710 nanometers. You'd only get mutagenesis from a UV light source so we couldn't cause cancer in the sample. Besides, the laser irradiates a portion of cells separated from the blood sample. So the patient would never be exposed to the laser light. John Viator Assistant Professor, Biological Engineering and Dermatology University of Missouri, Columbia
This test can determine the relative number of circulating melanoma cells, so it can indicate response to treatment, remission, or relapse, so it may have value to the oncologist managing treatment of Stage IV melanoma patients. You are right, catching melanoma before metastasis is key, but for the advanced cases, this could be an important test. There's lots of work to do, but I think this is a promising technique. There certainly is a lot of clinical interest in my work. John Viator Assistant Professor, Biological Engineering and Dermatology University of Missouri, Columbia