Overview:
The first part of this one-day course will focus on technological
aspects of molecular imaging. The physical principles and technical
issues associated with each of the imaging modalities will be explained.
The comparison of the strengths and weaknesses should reveal the
complementarity of the various techniques and illustrate the importance
of fusion approaches. Probe design will be discussed in two
contributions: The first part deals with the physical principle of the
reporter systems, while the second contribution describes issues
encountered in probe design: sensitivity, specificity, bioavailability,
safety, and translatability to the clinics. Various molecular imaging
applications (studies of gene expression, protein function, cell
migration) will be discussed in the third part.
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Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
• Explain basic concepts and the potential of molecular imaging as a
basic research tool, for diagnostics and for monitoring therapeutic
interventions: role of molecular versus structural and physiological
readouts;
• Recognize relevance of multi-modality imaging strategy (MRI might not
be the optimal method to tackle a specific problem): select optimal
imaging strategy for a specific problem;
• Explain ‘contrast’ principles of the various reporter moieties
(paramagnetic &, superparamagnetic compounds, fluorescent dyes and
proteins, positron emitters, gamma ray emitters): recognize strengths
and weaknesses of each reporter; and
• Evaluate molecular probe concepts (e.g. direct versus indirect
reporter systems, basic research concept versus clinically applicable
probes, etc.)
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Audience Description:
This course is designed for physicists, chemists/molecular biologists,
biochemists, biologists, pharmacologists and physicians with interest in
imaging technologies/fusion of MRI with other modalities; design of
molecular imaging probes; application for (early) diagnostics, staging,
evaluation of therapy; and responses (proof of therapeutic principle).
This is a basic education course, and no special experience is required,
although some experience in exposure to imaging technologies, basic
knowledge in chemistry and biology would be helpful. |
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Program |
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Saturday, 6 May 08:00 - 17:50 |
| 08:00 |
Introduction |
Markus Rudin,
Ph.D. |
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Instrumentation |
| 08:35 |
Imaging
Technologies I: Physical Principles, Technical Issues |
Allan Johnson,
Ph.D |
| 09:10 |
Imaging
Technologies II: Comparison of Techniques, Strengths/Weaknesses, Fusion |
Umar Mahmood,
M.D., Ph.D. |
| 09:45 |
Combined
Technologies: MRI/PET, PET/CT, MRI/Optical Instrumental Aspects |
Arion
Chatziioannou, Ph.D. |
| 10:20 |
Break - Meet the Teachers |
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Probe Design |
| 10:40 |
Concepts of
Probe Design I: Physical Principles of Reporter Moieties |
Silvio Aime, Ph.D. |
| 11:15 |
Concepts of
Probe Design II. Design of Target-Specific Probes |
Klaas Nicolay, Ph.D. |
| 11:50 |
Combined Technologies:
Multimodal Probes |
Natarajan Raghunand, Ph.D. |
| 12:25 |
Break - Meet the Teachers |
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