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Mikhail - 2026

Mentor: Dr. Andrew Mikhail | andrew.mikhail@nih.gov
Lab
Center for Interventional Oncology
CC

Cancer therapies

The Center for Interventional Oncology (CIO) at the NIH Clinical Center offers opportunities to investigate cancer therapies that leverage advanced medical imaging to diagnose and treat localized malignancies using precisely targeted, minimally invasive procedures. CIO research integrates MRI, PET, CT, cone-beam CT, and ultrasound—often in combination—to guide therapeutic devices within the body for localized or regional interventions, including image-guided drug delivery. Students in the CIO work within a highly multidisciplinary, translational research environment at the world’s largest hospital dedicated to clinical research.

This project focuses on the development and characterization of advanced drug delivery systems for tumor-localized administration of immunotherapies and molecularly targeted anticancer agents. Delivery platforms may include embolic beads, in situ-forming hydrogels, emulsions, and nanomedicines engineered for image-guided delivery of immunomodulatory agents such as immune checkpoint inhibitors and immune-activating agents. Students will gain hands-on experience in drug formulation science; quantitative assessment of drug loading and release kinetics; characterization of imaging properties; and computational medical image analysis to evaluate spatial drug distribution and therapeutic effects using benchtop and preclinical in vivo models.