Physician-Congressman Visits NIH

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX, l), a physician, toured the NIBIB Laboratory of Molecular Imaging and Nanomedicine in the Porter Neuroscience Research Center with NIBIB director Dr. Roderic Pettigrew and lab chief Dr. Shawn Chen.

Chen’s lab develops new imaging probes for diagnosis and treatment monitoring as well as nanomedicine for drug and gene delivery. Chen showed Burgess an example of the Tyndall effect—a column of light when nanoparticles suspended in liquid reflect the colored beam of a laser pointer. 

Dr. Sung-Youl Ko of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center demonstrated an assay used in Zika virus vaccine development for Burgess. Present for the demonstration were NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci, VRC director Dr. John Mascola and VRC deputy director Dr. Barney Graham, who  provided the congressman with a tour of the VRC prior to the lab demo.