Erik Marcellus Shapiro, Ph.D.

Dr. Erik Shapiro is Associate Chair of Research and a professor in the Department of Radiology. His Molecular and Cellular Imaging Laboratory (MCIL) develops and uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), position emission tomography (PET) and x-ray computed tomography (CT) for molecular and cellular imaging of biological phenomena, regenerative medicine, and early detection of disease.

Dr. Shapiro graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton with a degree in chemistry and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania. He conducted his post-doctoral work in molecular imaging at the National Institutes of Health.

Molecular and Cellular Imaging Laboratory

Working at the intersection of chemistry, physics and biology, Dr. Shapiro’s laboratory has three main cores: developing novel nanoparticle contrast agents for MRI and CT; using molecular and cellular imaging for monitoring cell migration, such as after stem cell transplant; and using targeted contrast agents to detect specific molecular epitopes, such as in cancer.

The Molecular and Cellular Imaging Laboratory develops new imaging approaches for MRI, PET and X-ray in order to understand biology, to detect disease at early stages and to monitor treatments. Our efforts are geared toward a wide variety of important biomedical topics ranging from stem cell transplantation and migration, cancer diagnostics and therapy, abnormal diabetes pathologies and tissue engineered scaffolds. The tools we develop include multi-modality contrast agents and nanomaterials, engineered protein transporters, large animal models of disease and artificial intelligence image analysis.