Research in the Tumor Imaging Program extends from imaging in animals geared towards helping expand our understanding of cancer biology, to the use of medical imaging on the diagnosis and assessment of response to therapy of tumors. The overall goal of the members of this program is to develop new approaches to use medical imaging in cancer research and to extend current imaging capabilities to optimize diagnosis and assessment of response to therapy. There are five major overlapping themes within the umbrella of the Program's research. Theme 1 - Diagnostic Imaging Theme 2 - Assessment of Response to Therapy by Imaging Theme 3 - Reporter Gene Imaging Theme 4 - Imaging Parameters Indicative of Metabolic Oxidative Stress Theme 5 - Imaging of Cell Trafficking Major accomplishments of the Tumor Imaging Program include (a) Discovery that 2DG-induced radiosensitization involved disruptions in thiol metabolism supporting the hypothesis that metabolic oxidative stress could be involved with the therapeutic effects of 2DG during cancer therapy, (b) Discovery that gene therapy using an adenovirus vector containing a cDNA coding for the sodium iodide symporter could be utilized to concentrate radionuclides in tumors, and (c) Significant contributions to our understanding of lung cancer diagnosis extending from development of novel approaches to lung cancer imaging through extensive participation in the lung cancer early detection trial. There are numerous past and present productive collaborations both between members of the Program, and with members of other Cancer Center programs. The interactive nature of the Program is illustrated by the """"""""Molecular Imaging of Responses to Cancer Therapy"""""""" program supported by an NCI P20 and successful shared instrumentation grants to obtain a Micro- PET machine and SPECT-CT. The program consists of 25 members from 7 departments and 2 colleges. Peer-reviewed, research funding for this program totals $5,878,362 with $1,486,243 coming from the NCI.
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