Seth T Gammon, PhD
Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, Division of Diagnostic Imaging
About Dr. Gammon
Prior to his arrival at MD Anderson, Dr. Gammon worked on problems in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, bioluminescence spectral unmixing, bioluminescence resonance energy transfer, and bioluminescence reporters for myeloperoxidase activity in vivo. That work resulted in the development of software for simultaneously studying multiple pathways in live cells (Gammon ST et al. Anal Chem 2006) and the ability to predict optimal luciferase/fluorophore BRET from published spectra (Gammon ST and Villalobos VM et al. Biotechnol Prog 2009). Furthermore, with inexpensive commercially available reagents such as luminol sodium salt, one can monitor myeloperoxidase activity in vivo to study the activation of specific branches of the innate immune system, particularly neutrophils and macrophages (Gross S and Gammon ST et al. Nat Med 2009).
Here, his research focuses on novel imaging strategies that are based on rigorous mechanistic studies for noninvasive monitoring of bacteria, activation of the innate immune system, and their interaction with tumors in preclinical models. This includes:
1) Developing new hyperpolarized MRI agents for study of the adaptive and innate immune systems.
2) Leveraging existing bioluminescent and fluorescent reporters for studying the complex interaction of the innate immune system, tumor biology, and cancer chemotherapeutics.
3) Using quantitative PET/SPECT/CT techniques for imaging of the pharmacodynamics of novel therapies in preclinical animal models.
4) Developing novel methods of extracting new information from existing imaging techniques and contrast agents in the context of tumor progression and intervention in preclinical models.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Assistant Professor, Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2007 | Washington University, Saint Louis, MO, USA, PHD, Chemical Biology |
| 2000 | University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana, Champaign, IL, USA, BS, Biophysics |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2007 - 2007
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Global In Vivo Product Manager, Carestream Health/Bruker, Woodbridge, CT, 2009 - 2013
Product Applications Specialist, Carestream Health, Woodbridge, CT, 2009 - 2009
Product Manager, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, 2008 - 2009
Technical Marketing Specialist, Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, 2007 - 2008
Honors & Awards
| 2011 | North American Product Line Strategy of the Year Award in Preclinical Imaging Systems, Frost and Sullivan |
| 2007 | Ceil Degutis Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Graduate Student in Chemical Biology, Washington University School of Medicine |
| 2006 | Society for Molecular Imaging Student Travel, Society for Molecular Imaging (now WMIC) |
| 2002 | Nuclear Medicine Training Grant, NIH |
| 2001 | Markey Pathway Fellowship, Washington University School of Medicine |
| 2000 | Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa Society |
| 1997 | Campus Honors Program, University of Illinois |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Gammon ST, Foje N, Brewer EM, Owers E, Downs CA, Budde MD, Leevy WM, Helms MN. Preclinical anatomical, molecular, and functional imaging of the lung with multiple modalities. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 306(10):L897-L914, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24658139.
- Qiu X, Johnson JR, Wilson BS, Gammon ST, Piwnica-Worms D, Barnett EM. Single-cell resolution imaging of retinal ganglion cell apoptosis in vivo using a cell-penetrating caspase-activatable peptide probe. PLoS One 9(2):e88855, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24586415.
- Sasser TA, Van Avermaete AE, White A, Chapman S, Johnson JR, Van Avermaete T, Gammon ST, Leevy WM. Bacterial infection probes and imaging strategies in clinical nuclear medicine and preclinical molecular imaging. Curr Top Med Chem 13(4):479-87, 2013. PMID: 23432010.
- Flentie K, Kocher B, Gammon ST, Novack DV, McKinney JS, Piwnica-Worms D. A bioluminescent transposon reporter-trap identifies tumor-specific microenvironment-induced promoters in Salmonella for conditional bacterial-based tumor therapy. Cancer Discov 2(7):624-37, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22728436.
- Özkaya H, Akcan AB, Aydemir G, Aydinöz S, Razia Y, Gammon ST, McKinney J. Salmonella typhimurium infections in BALB/c mice: a comparison of tissue bioluminescence, tissue cultures and mice clinical scores. New Microbiol 35(1):53-9, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22378553.
- Sasser TA, Chapman SE, Li S, Hudson C, Orton SP, Diener JM, Gammon ST, Correcher C, Leevy WM. Segmentation and measurement of fat volumes in murine obesity models using X-ray computed tomography. J Vis Exp 4(62):e3680, 2012. e-Pub 2012. PMID: 22508524.
- Smith BA, Daschbach MM, Gammon ST, Xiao S, Chapman SE, Hudson C, Suckow M, Piwnica-Worms D, Gokel GW, Leevy WM. In vivo cell death mediated by synthetic ion channels. Chem Commun (Camb) 47(28):7977-9, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21681307.
- Smith BA, Gammon ST, Xiao S, Wang W, Chapman S, McDermott R, Suckow MA, Johnson JR, Piwnica-Worms D, Gokel GW, Smith BD, Leevy WM. In vivo optical imaging of acute cell death using a near-infrared fluorescent zinc-dipicolylamine probe. Mol Pharm 8(2):583-90, 2011. e-Pub 2011. PMID: 21323375.
- Gross S, Gammon ST, Moss BL, Rauch D, Harding J, Heinecke JW, Ratner L, Piwnica-Worms D. Bioluminescence imaging of myeloperoxidase activity in vivo. Nat Med 15(4):455-61, 2009. e-Pub 2009. PMID: 19305414.
- Gammon ST, Villalobos VM, Roshal M, Samrakandi M, Piwnica-Worms D. Rational design of novel red-shifted BRET pairs: Platforms for real-time single-chain protease biosensors. Biotechnol Prog 25(2):559-69, 2009. PMID: 19330851.
- Flentie KN, Qi M, Gammon ST, Razia Y, Lui F, Marpegan L, Manglik A, Piwnica-Worms D, McKinney JS. Stably integrated luxCDABE for assessment of Salmonella invasion kinetics. Mol Imaging 7(5):222-33, 2008. PMID: 19123992.
- Leevy WM, Gammon ST, Johnson JR, Lampkins AJ, Jiang H, Marquez M, Piwnica-Worms D, Suckow MA, Smith BD. Noninvasive optical imaging of staphylococcus aureus bacterial infection in living mice using a Bis-dipicolylamine-Zinc(II) affinity group conjugated to a near-infrared fluorophore. Bioconjug Chem 19(3):686-92, 2008. e-Pub 2008. PMID: 18260609.
- Moss BL, Gross S, Gammon ST,, Vinjamoori A, Piwnica-Worms D. Identification of a ligand-induced transient refractory period in nuclear factor-kappaB signaling. J Biol Chem 283(13):8687-98, 2008. e-Pub 2008. PMID: 18203717.
- Gammon ST, Bernstein M, Schuster DP, Piwnica-Worms D. A method for quantification of nucleotides and nucleotide analogues in thymidine kinase assays using lanthanum phosphate coprecipitation. Anal Biochem 369(1):80-6, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17658449.
- Bullok KE, Maxwell D, Kesarwala AH, Gammon S, Prior JL, Snow M, Stanley S, Piwnica-Worms D. Biochemical and in vivo characterization of a small, membrane-permeant, caspase-activatable far-red fluorescent peptide for imaging apoptosis. Biochemistry 46(13):4055-65, 2007. e-Pub 2007. PMID: 17348687.
- Johnson JR, Fu N, Arunkumar E, Leevy WM, Gammon ST, Piwnica-Worms D, Smith BD. Squaraine rotaxanes: superior substitutes for Cy-5 in molecular probes for near-infrared fluorescence cell imaging. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 46(29):5528-31, 2007. PMID: 17585399.
- Leevy WM, Gammon ST, Jiang H, Johnson JR, Maxwell DJ, Jackson EN, Marquez M, Piwnica-Worms D, Smith BD. Optical imaging of bacterial infection in living mice using a fluorescent near-infrared molecular probe. J Am Chem Soc 128(51):16476-7, 2006. PMID: 17177377.
- Ippolito JE, Merritt ME, Bäckhed F, Moulder KL, Mennerick S, Manchester JK, Gammon ST, Piwnica-Worms D, Gordon JI. Linkage between cellular communications, energy utilization, and proliferation in metastatic neuroendocrine cancers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103(33):12505-10, 2006. e-Pub 2006. PMID: 16895983.
- Gammon ST, Leevy WM, Gross S, Gokel GW, Piwnica-Worms D. Spectral unmixing of multicolored bioluminescence emitted from heterogeneous biological sources. Anal Chem 78(5):1520-7, 2006. PMID: 16503603.
- Bullok KE, Gammon ST, Violini S, Prantner AM, Villalobos VM, Sharma V, Piwnica-Worms D. Permeation peptide conjugates for in vivo molecular imaging applications. Mol Imaging 5(1):1-15, 2006. PMID: 16779965.
- Leevy WM, Gammon ST, Levchenko T, Daranciang DD, Murillo O, Torchilin V, Piwnica-Worms D, Huettner JE, Gokel GW. Structure-activity relationships, kinetics, selectivity, and mechanistic studies of synthetic hydraphile channels in bacterial and mammalian cells. Org Biomol Chem 3(19):3544-50, 2005. e-Pub 2005. PMID: 16172693.
- Barcellona ML, Gammon ST, Hazlett T, Digman MA, Gratton E. Polarized fluorescence correlation spectroscopy of DNA-DAPI complexes. Microsc Res Tech 65(4-5):205-17, 2004. PMID: 15630690.
- Luker KE, Smith MC, Luker GD, Gammon ST, Piwnica-Worms H, Piwnica-Worms D. Kinetics of regulated protein-protein interactions revealed with firefly luciferase complementation imaging in cells and living animals. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 101(33):12288-93, 2004. e-Pub 2004. PMID: 15284440.
- Gammon ST, Villalobos VM, Prior JL, Sharma V, Piwnica-Worms D. Quantitative analysis of permeation peptide complexes labeled with Technetium-99m: chiral and sequence-specific effects on net cell uptake. Bioconjug Chem 14(2):368-76, 2003. PMID: 12643747.
Invited Articles
- Gross S, Gammon ST, Moss B, Piwnica-Worms, D. Real-Time Bioluminescence Imaging of Myeloperoxidase Activity in Small Laboratory Animals. Nature Protocols, 2009.
Book Chapters
- Sivapackiam J, Gammon ST, Harpstrite SE, Sharma V. Targeted chemotherapy in drug-resistant tumors, noninvasive imaging of P-glycoprotein-mediated functional transport in cancer, and emerging role of Pgp in neurodegenerative diseases. In: Methods Mol Biol, 141-81, 2010.
Books (edited and written)
- Gammon ST, Samuel B. SACademic Guide. Ed(s) Gammon ST, Samuel B. Washington University Press: St. Louis, MO, 2003.