Children's National Medical Center View Institution's Website 5 articles published in JoVE Cancer Research The Establishment of a Lung Colonization Assay for Circulating Tumor Cell Visualization in Lung Tissues Tsung-Cheng Lin1, Ying-Chih Liao2, Wen-Tsan Chang1,2, Cheng-Han Yang1, Li-Hsin Cheng1, Megan Cheng3, Hung-Chi Cheng1,2 1The Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 2Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 3 An animal model is needed to decipher the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in promoting lung colonization during cancer metastasis. Here, we established and successfully performed an in vivo assay to specifically test the requirement of polymeric fibronectin (polyFN) assembly on CTCs for lung colonization. Bioengineering Biofunctionalized Prussian Blue Nanoparticles for Multimodal Molecular Imaging Applications Jennifer M. Vojtech1,2, Juliana Cano-Mejia1,2, Matthieu F. Dumont1, Raymond W. Sze1,3, Rohan Fernandes1,3,4 1 This protocol describes the synthesis of biofunctionalized Prussian blue nanoparticles and their use as multimodal, molecular imaging agents. The nanoparticles have a core-shell design where gadolinium or manganese ions within the nanoparticle core generate MRI contrast. The biofunctional shell contains fluorophores for fluorescence imaging and targeting ligands for molecular targeting. Behavior Behavioral and Locomotor Measurements Using an Open Field Activity Monitoring System for Skeletal Muscle Diseases Kathleen S. Tatem1, James L. Quinn1, Aditi Phadke1, Qing Yu1, Heather Gordish-Dressman1,2, Kanneboyina Nagaraju1,2 1 Open field activity levels are used to assess locomotive and behavioral activity levels. This protocol provides a well-designed, standardized protocol to use in preclinical trials for neuromuscular disorders. Biology An Explant Assay for Assessing Cellular Behavior of the Cranial Mesenchyme Anjali A. Sarkar1, Irene E. Zohn1 1Center for Neuroscience Research, Children's Research Institute, Children's National Medical Center The cranial mesenchyme undergoes dramatic morphogenic movements that likely provides a driving force for elevation of the neural folds1,2. Here we describe a simple ex vivo explant assay to characterize the cellular behaviors of the cranial mesenchyme during neurulation. This assay has numerous applications including being amenable to pharmacological manipulations and live imaging analyses. Neuroscience Labeling and Imaging Cells in the Zebrafish Hindbrain Pradeepa Jayachandran1, Elim Hong2, Rachel Brewster1 1Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 2Center for Neuroscience, Children's National Medical Center Key to understanding the morphogenetic processes that shape the early embryo is the ability to image cells at high resolution. We describe here a technique for labeling single cells or small clusters of cells in whole zebrafish embryos with membrane-targeted Green Fluorescent Protein.