MOLECULAR IMAGING (MI) ? ABSTRACT The overall goal of the Molecular Imaging (MI) Program at KCI is to develop new imaging technologies through pre-clinical, early clinical and national studies to better understand tumor physiology, aid in the assessment of novel therapeutic approaches and make new imaging methods available to improve routine clinical care. This highly integrated Program includes 24 members from 7 departments and 4 schools at Wayne State University and $3,541,404 in peer reviewed cancer-related funding, of which $772,287 is from the NCI. The MI Program is led by Dr. Juri Gelovani as Program Leader and Dr. Nerissa Viola as a Program Co-Leader. The MI Program is built on close collaborations among the imaging scientists, biomedical engineers, chemists, biologists, clinical oncologists, radiologists, and nuclear medicine physicians. Members with complementary expertise work with colleagues from other KCI Programs to apply their expertise in molecular imaging to answer important biological and clinical questions. Together investigators conduct research using our integrated small animal imaging core facility with optical, 7T MR, microPET/CT, microSPECT/CT, and a recently-installed large animal (clinical) PET/CT scanner, the developing Cyclotron-Radiochemistry Core and other Shared Resources at KCI. Molecular imaging is also being used to complement genetic and epigenetic analyses of tumor specimens. While genetic and epigenetic analyses can investigate thousands of genes simultaneously, imaging allows investigators to study the magnitude and heterogeneity of the gene product expression-activity non-invasively and to obtain such repeated measurements over the course of tumor progression and response to treatment. Furthermore, functional measurements obtained with molecular imaging can assist in determining if a particular pathway is active and if it is important in tumor physiology, something that simple measurements of gene expression or protein level in vitro or in situ may not be able to demonstrate. Bioengineering experts in the MI Program are developing novel instruments and methods for structural, functional, and molecular imaging of cancer, including novel MRI sequences, instruments for hyperpolarization of agents and hpMR spectroscopic imaging, ultrasound tomography and photoacoustic imaging. The ultimate goal of the MI Program is to translate the results of pre- clinical research into the clinic. Several imaging agents, methods, and instruments developed in house? are now progressing to early phase clinical trials. All members of the MI Program actively collaborate with members of the TBM, MT, and PSDR Programs at KCI. Of the 333 manuscripts published between December 2015 and November 2019, 39% and 30% were intra- and inter-programmatic, respectively, and 66% were multi- institutional collaborations.
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