This proposal aims at acquiring funds from this High End Instrumentation Program for the acquisition of the small animal PET and CT combined camera, the Inveon from Siemens Pre- Clinical Solutions. This camera possesses a sensitivity of more than 10%, an extended field of view of 12cm allowing for imaging whole-body animals (mice and rats), and mostly, has inherent capability produce registered CT to PET images. Anatomical registration to functional image is now a prerequisite for the development of PET probes targeting the study of diseases using animal models in fields such as oncology, neurology, cardiology, immunology and pulmonary sciences. The Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology is involved in numerous research projects, in the vast part supported by NIH grants, by the implication of a wide array of researchers. This camera will allow the developments of imaging agents for the study animal models of human diseases in vivo. Most of our applications are related to the developments of imaging agents for the diagnostics and therapy of cancer.
Multimodality imaging now represents the state of the heart for the development of imaging agents dedicated to the study of human diseases using animal models. Using animal models is important as it allow verification of hypothesis more quickly. It thus allow for faster validation of imaging agents for diagnostic and therapy and enables faster translation of basic research to clinical studies.
