Shih-Chin Wang

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are released by all cells and hold great promise as a class of biomarkers. As EVs represent a way of capturing molecular information about the proteins inside of cells, EVs from biofluids could be used to better understand and diagnose disease from difficult to access organs such as the brain. This promise has led to increased interest in measuring EV proteins from both total EVs as well as brain-derived EVs isolated from the blood.

Abstract The ability to characterize individual biomarker protein molecules in patient blood samples could enable diagnosis of diseases at an earlier stage, when treatment is typically more effective. Single-molecule imaging offers a promising approach to accomplish this goal. However, thus far, single-molecule imaging methods have not been translated into the clinical setting.

Abstract Human G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) respond to various ligands and stimuli. However, GPCRs rely on membrane for proper folding, making their biochemical properties difficult to study. By displaying GPCRs in viral envelopes, we fabricated a Virion Display (VirD) array containing 315 non-olfactory human GPCRs for functional characterization. Using this array, we found that 10 of 20 anti-GPCR mAbs were ultra-specific.