Tyrone Porter, Ph.D.
Dr. Tyrone Porter is the Principal Investigator of the Nanomedicine and Medical Acoustics Laboratory.
Dr. Porter received his Ph.D. in Bioengineering at the University of Washington and is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering (primary appointment) and Biomedical Engineering (secondary appointment, and is affiliated with the Division of Materials Science and Engineering. Additionally, Dr. Porter is an Associate Director of the Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology and is intimately involved in the NCI-funded Cross-Disciplinary Training in Cancer Nanotechnology Program and the NIGMS-funded Biomolecular Pharmacology Training Program.
Phone: (617) 353-7366
Email: tmp@bu.edu
Office: 110 Cummington St. ENG 319, Boston, MA 02215
Hours: By Appointment
Research Interests
Integration of ultrasound technologies with chemical and biomolecular engineered vesicles for diagnostic and therapeutic applications
- Development of targeted ultrasound contrast agents for image enhancement (molecular imaging), perfusion imaging, and image-guided drug delivery
- Ultrasound-enhanced transport of drugs and genes across cell membranes
- Ultrasound-enhanced drug activity (i.e. chemotherapy, thrombolytics)
- Tissue response to acousto-mechanical forces (apoptosis, wound healing, gene expression, etc.)
Ultrasound and polymers
- ultrasound-induced release of therapeutics from polymeric biomaterials
- modification of polymer structure and/or function due to energy deposition from ultrasound
Professor Porter’s overall goal of his research program is to push the application of ultrasound technology in new and exciting directions. Applications could include using ultrasound technology to test the growth of cancer and drug delivery through microscopic carriers.
Selected Publications
Gong Y, Cabodi M, Porter TM. Relationship between size and frequency-dependent attenuation of monodisperse populations of lipid-coated microbubbles, Bubble Science, Engineering, and Technology (2010), Vol. 2, No. 2, 41-47.
Ta T, Convertine A, Reyes C, Stayton P, Porter T. Thermosensitive liposomes modified with poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-propylacrylic acid) copolymers for triggered release of Doxorubicin, Biomacromolecules (2010), Vol. 11, 1915-1920.
Zhang P, Porter T. An in vitro study of a phase-shift nanoemulsion: a potential nucleation agent for bubble-enhanced HIFU tumor ablation, Ultrasound Med Biol (2010), Vol 36, No. 11, 1856-1866.
Porter TM, Smith DAB, Holland CK. Acoustic techniques for assessing the Optison(R) destruction threshold, Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine (2006) Vol. 25, No. 12, 1519-1529.
Smith DAB, Porter TM, Martinez J, Huang SL, MacDonald RC, McPherson DD, Holland CK. Destruction thresholds of echogenic liposomes with clinical diagnostic ultrasound, Ultrasound Med Biol (2007), Vol. 33, No. 5, 797-809.
Datta S, Coussios CC, McAdory LE, Tan J, Porter TM, De Courten-Myers G, Holland CK. Correlation of cavitation with ultrasound enhancement of thromobolysis, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (2006) Vol. 32, 1257-1267.
Porter TM, Crum LA, Black F, Stayton PS, Hoffman AS. The effect of polymer surface activity on cavitation nuclei stability against dissolution, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (2004) Vol. 116, No. 2: 721-728.