Robert Bok, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, UCSF
Cancer Center Program Memberships
Prostate CancerResearch Summary
Robert Bok, MD, PhD, is an Associate Adjunct Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and the Hyperpolarized MRI Technology Resource Center at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Bok obtained his PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 1984, and he earned his MD in Medicine from The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore in 1989. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis in 1992, followed by a fellowship in Hematology-Oncology from UCSF in 1996.
At the UCSF Mission Bay Surbeck Laboratory, Dr. Bok provides physician coverage for research on MRI/MRSI scans performed on patients. Dr. Bok’s research activities focuses on the development of better molecular imaging methods for detecting and monitoring prostate cancer. His primary interest is on the use of pre-clinical animal models to improve recent advances in MRSI for prostate cancer. This includes hyperpolarized carbon-13 techniques, high-resolution magic angle spectroscopy, and the use of novel nanoparticles. Dr. Bok and his colleagues are also investigating the use of hyperpolarized 13C-pryuvate in a transgenic mouse model for prostate cancer known as Transgenic Adenocarcinoma of Mouse Prostate (TRAMP).
Dr. Bok is a current member of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, the CALGB, the Association of Northern California Oncologists, the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and the World Molecular Imaging Society. He has 60 published science articles and he has written 53 peer-reviewed articles and 90 abstracts.
Expertise:
Oncology
Specialty:
Prostate cancer, TRAMP, nanoparticles
Professional Interests:
Prostate cancer, urologic oncology, molecular imaging, hyperpolarized carbon-13 spectroscopy, high-resolution magic-angle spin spectroscopy, transgenic cancer models, extracellular proteases, metastases, molecular biomarkers
Education and Training:
• Medical School: The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore - Medicine
• Internship: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - Internal Medicine
• Residency: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - Internal Medicine
• Fellowship: University of California, San Francisco - Hematology-Oncology
• Doctor of Philosophy: University of Illinois, Urbana - Biochemistry
• Medical License, State of California
• ABIM, Board Certification in Internal Medicine
• ABIM, Board Certification in Medical Oncology
• ACLS Certification
Education
Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, IN, B.S., 1980, Biology and Chemistry
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Ph.D., 1984, Biochemistry
John Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, M.D., 1989, Medicine
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, Residency, 1992, Internal Medicine
University of California, San Francisco, Fellow, 1996, Hematology-Oncology
Professional Experience
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1980-84
Biochemical studies on the regulation of plasminogen activation by fibrin and lysine-binding sites, University of Illinois, Biochemistry Department. Advisor: Walter Mangel, Ph.D.- As Graduate Student -
1984-85
Studies on the distribution of ubiquitin, a regulator of intracellular proteolysis, in biological systems, St. Jude Children's Research hospital, Memphis, TN. Advisor: Victor Fried, Ph.D. -- as Post-Doc -
1985-86
Summer research project on evaluation of small molecule serine protease inhibitor in cell culture system, Children's Hospital, university of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Advisor: Walter Laug, M.D. -- as Medical Student -
1987
Research elective studying inhibition of tumor angiogensis by the antibiotic minocycline, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Brain Tumor Lab, Baltimore MD. Advisor: Henry Brem, M.D. -- as Medical Student -
1988
Research elective investigating serum of patients with Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (TTP) for potential anti-endothelial cell auto-antibodies, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Hematology Division, Baltimore, MD. Advisor: William Bell M.D. -- As Medical Student -
1990
Research honors rotation studying the effect of HSB on Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor -- 1 (PAI-1) expression by endothelal Cells, University of Minnesota, Hematology Division, Dept. of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN. Advisor: Greg Vercellotti, M.D. -- As Medical Resident -
1992-96
Isolation and characterization of genomic fragments of the murine beta3 integrin gene for purposes of homologous recombination, Hematology-Oncology Division, Univ. of Calif., San Francisco. Advisor: Marc Shuman, M.D. -- As Hematology-Oncology Fellow -
1996-98
Characterization of integrins in basal cells of prostatic epithelium; Targeting of recombinant proteins to platelet granules via Dodecapeptide sequence, Hem.-Onc. Div., UCSF. Advisor: Marc Shuman, M.D. -- As Visiting Post-Doc -
1998-2000
Clinical Instructor, Urological Oncology Program, UCSF/Mt. Zion Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA. Assistant Clinical Professor appointment pending. Establishment of TRAMP transgenic mouse colony and protease expression analysis in conjunction with the Protease Project Group at UCSF.
Selected Publications
- Wang ZJ, Ohliger MA, Larson PEZ, Gordon JW, Bok RA, Slater J, Villanueva-Meyer JE, Hess CP, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB. Hyperpolarized 13C MRI: State of the Art and Future Directions. Radiology. 2019 Mar 05; 182391.
View on PubMed - Bok R, Lee J, Sriram R, Keshari K, Sukumar S, Daneshmandi S, Korenchan DE, Flavell RR, Vigneron DB, Kurhanewicz J, Seth P. The Role of Lactate Metabolism in Prostate Cancer Progression and Metastases Revealed by Dual-Agent Hyperpolarized 13C MRSI. Cancers (Basel). 2019 Feb 22; 11(2).
View on PubMed - Chen HY, Gordon JW, Bok RA, Cao P, von Morze C, van Criekinge M, Milshteyn E, Carvajal L, Hurd RE, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB, Larson PEZ. Pulse sequence considerations for quantification of pyruvate-to-lactate conversion kPL in hyperpolarized 13 C imaging. NMR Biomed. 2019 Jan 21; e4052.
View on PubMed - Gordon JW, Chen HY, Autry A, Park I, Van Criekinge M, Mammoli D, Milshteyn E, Bok R, Xu D, Li Y, Aggarwal R, Chang S, Slater JB, Ferrone M, Nelson S, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PEZ, Vigneron DB. Translation of Carbon-13 EPI for hyperpolarized MR molecular imaging of prostate and brain cancer patients. Magn Reson Med. 2018 Oct 30.
View on PubMed - Zhu X, Gordon JW, Bok RA, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PEZ. Dynamic diffusion-weighted hyperpolarized 13 C imaging based on a slice-selective double spin echo sequence for measurements of cellular transport. Magn Reson Med. 2018 Oct 28.
View on PubMed - Larson PEZ, Chen HY, Gordon JW, Korn N, Maidens J, Arcak M, Tang S, Criekinge M, Carvajal L, Mammoli D, Bok R, Aggarwal R, Ferrone M, Slater JB, Nelson SJ, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB. Investigation of analysis methods for hyperpolarized 13C-pyruvate metabolic MRI in prostate cancer patients. NMR Biomed. 2018 Nov; 31(11):e3997.
View on PubMed - Tang S, Milshteyn E, Reed G, Gordon J, Bok R, Zhu X, Zhu Z, Vigneron DB, Larson PEZ. A regional bolus tracking and real-time B1 calibration method for hyperpolarized 13 C MRI. Magn Reson Med. 2019 Feb; 81(2):839-851.
View on PubMed - Sriram R, Gordon J, Baligand C, Ahamed F, Delos Santos J, Qin H, Bok RA, Vigneron DB, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PEZ, Wang ZJ. Non-Invasive Assessment of Lactate Production and Compartmentalization in Renal Cell Carcinomas Using Hyperpolarized 13C Pyruvate MRI. Cancers (Basel). 2018 Sep 05; 10(9).
View on PubMed - Lee JE, Diederich CJ, Bok R, Sriram R, Santos RD, Noworolski SM, Salgaonkar VA, Adams MS, Vigneron DB, Kurhanewicz J. Assessing high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment of prostate cancer with hyperpolarized 13 C dual-agent imaging of metabolism and perfusion. NMR Biomed. 2018 Jul 18; e3962.
View on PubMed - Maidens J, Gordon JW, Chen HY, Park I, Van Criekinge M, Milshteyn E, Bok R, Aggarwal R, Ferrone M, Slater JB, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB, Arcak M, Larson PEZ. Spatio-Temporally Constrained Reconstruction for Hyperpolarized Carbon-13 MRI Using Kinetic Models. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2018 Dec; 37(12):2603-2612.
View on PubMed - Taglang C, Korenchan DE, von Morze C, Yu J, Najac C, Wang S, Blecha JE, Subramaniam S, Bok R, VanBrocklin HF, Vigneron DB, Ronen SM, Sriram R, Kurhanewicz J, Wilson DM, Flavell RR. Late-stage deuteration of 13C-enriched substrates for T1 prolongation in hyperpolarized 13C MRI. Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 May 17; 54(41):5233-5236.
View on PubMed - Chen HY, Larson PEZ, Gordon JW, Bok RA, Ferrone M, van Criekinge M, Carvajal L, Cao P, Pauly JM, Kerr AB, Park I, Slater JB, Nelson SJ, Munster PN, Aggarwal R, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB. Technique development of 3D dynamic CS-EPSI for hyperpolarized 13 C pyruvate MR molecular imaging of human prostate cancer. Magn Reson Med. 2018 Nov; 80(5):2062-2072.
View on PubMed - Park I, Larson PEZ, Gordon JW, Carvajal L, Chen HY, Bok R, Van Criekinge M, Ferrone M, Slater JB, Xu D, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB, Chang S, Nelson SJ. Development of methods and feasibility of using hyperpolarized carbon-13 imaging data for evaluating brain metabolism in patient studies. Magn Reson Med. 2018 Sep; 80(3):864-873.
View on PubMed - Shin PJ, Zhu Z, Camarda R, Bok RA, Zhou AY, Kurhanewicz J, Goga A, Vigneron DB. Cancer recurrence monitoring using hyperpolarized [1-13C]pyruvate metabolic imaging in murine breast cancer model. Magn Reson Imaging. 2017 11; 43:105-109.
View on PubMed - Chen HY, Larson PEZ, Bok RA, von Morze C, Sriram R, Delos Santos R, Delos Santos J, Gordon JW, Bahrami N, Ferrone M, Kurhanewicz J, Vigneron DB. Assessing Prostate Cancer Aggressiveness with Hyperpolarized Dual-Agent 3D Dynamic Imaging of Metabolism and Perfusion. Cancer Res. 2017 06 15; 77(12):3207-3216.
View on PubMed - Wilson DM, Di Gialleonardo V, Wang ZJ, Carroll V, Von Morze C, Taylor A, Sai V, VanCriekinge M, Bok R, Ohliger MA, Keshari KR. Hyperpolarized 13C Spectroscopic Evaluation of Oxidative Stress in a Rodent Model of Steatohepatitis. Sci Rep. 2017 04 20; 7:46014.
View on PubMed - Marco-Rius I, Gordon JW, Mattis AN, Bok R, Delos Santos R, Sukumar S, Larson PEZ, Vigneron DB, Ohliger MA. Diffusion-weighted imaging of hyperpolarized [13 C]urea in mouse liver. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2018 01; 47(1):141-151.
View on PubMed - Milshteyn E, von Morze C, Reed GD, Shang H, Shin PJ, Zhu Z, Chen HY, Bok R, Goga A, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PE, Vigneron DB. Development of high resolution 3D hyperpolarized carbon-13 MR molecular imaging techniques. Magn Reson Imaging. 2017 05; 38:152-162.
View on PubMed - Marco-Rius I, von Morze C, Sriram R, Cao P, Chang GY, Milshteyn E, Bok RA, Ohliger MA, Pearce D, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PE, Vigneron DB, Merritt M. Monitoring acute metabolic changes in the liver and kidneys induced by fructose and glucose using hyperpolarized [2-13 C]dihydroxyacetone. Magn Reson Med. 2017 01; 77(1):65-73.
View on PubMed - Shang H, Sukumar S, von Morze C, Bok RA, Marco-Rius I, Kerr A, Reed GD, Milshteyn E, Ohliger MA, Kurhanewicz J, Larson PEZ, Pauly JM, Vigneron DB. Spectrally selective three-dimensional dynamic balanced steady-state free precession for hyperpolarized C-13 metabolic imaging with spectrally selective radiofrequency pulses. Magn Reson Med. 2017 09; 78(3):963-975.
View on PubMed