Innovative molecular imaging center gets five-year, $10 million renewal grant

Recently a $10 million grant from NCI has been awarded to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis for cancer imaging. For details click below.
Innovative molecular imaging center gets five-year, $10 million renewal grant

EUR 900 million for German molecular imaging research

The German Federal Ministry has taken an initiative to fund immensely to the flourishing field of molecular imaging research. This is clearly a funding of magnanimous proportions when compared to the recent grant support for molecular imaging from SNM in North America. Click below for the detailed news.
EUR 900 million for German molecular imaging research

Gamma Medica-Ideas Announces Sale of Two Pre-clinical Imaging Systems to Switzerland’s Centre d’Imagerie Biomédicale

The pre-clinical imaging is being expanded across Europe. The Institutes involved in imaging research in Switzerland under an umbrella of Centre d’Imagerie Biomédicale (CIBM) has bought two pre-clinical imaging systems from Gamma Medica -Ideas - FLEX Triumph™ imaging platform that combines PET, SPECT and CT installed at the Nuclear Medicine Department of the University Hospital of Geneva (HUG); and a LabPET™ system installed at École Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne (EPFL). Click here for more.

New Molecular Imaging Center at INMAS, India

It appears that Moelcular Imaging is rapidly burgeoning in India. In less than a month after opening a Molecular Imaging center at Chennai, and less than 4 months after the one in Bangalore, a new center at the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS) in the capital city of New Delhi has been set up. This clearly is a big news as it comes from the support of government unlike the earlier centers which largely was the effect of private players. Look at this PIB Press Release

India, US to cooperate in developing medical technology

Nice to know that DBT of India has partenered with NIBIB of NIH, USA to push the frontiers in medical technology in India. "The focus will be on infectious diseases, trauma, maternal and child health and chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases," Roderic Pettigrew, Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering quoted during the agreement. According to the report, the Ministry of Science and Technology is setting up the country's first-ever Translational Health Science and Technology Institute to facilitate development, optimisation and evaluation of technologies for public health. I wonder when and where will that Institute be set up. Click here for more.

Chennai to Get Molecular Imaging Centre

Seems the concept of molecular imaging is making a headway in India with yet another center developing at Chennai, not so long after the first center opened in Bangalore. This is a significantly quick development from the HCG and GE groups in capitalizing the needs of the cancer healthcare market in India. Does the 'molecular imaging' buzzword still continue to open up more such centers? Let's see..For now read the link - Chennai to Get Molecular Imaging Centre

Pre-conference Symposium and Joint Molecular Imaging Conference - 2007 at Providence, RI, USA

The Joint Molecular Imaging Conference 2007 started with a Pre-conference symposiums. I attended the Imaging in Molecular Medicine symposium. The symposium was very much educative for young investigators like me. Details here!

Novel molecular imaging strategy to detect atherosclerosis

Among the various medical imaging modalities, PET, PET-CT, SPECT and MRI (using 'smart probes') are popular for molecular imaging stratagies since they diagnose functional changes at molecular level in normal or diseased cells or tissues. The ultrasound imaging, which is highly regarded for its safety and dynamic real time imaging, is however still to show its effectiveness in detecting events at molecular level. A recent research study tries to bring ultrasound into the paradigm of molecular imaging by utilizing contrast-enhancing microbubbles to detect atherosclerosis. Follow the link below.
Breakthrough Promised In Detecting Atherosclerosis

Click here to see the original article published in Circulation.

SNM Awards $105,000 in Support of Molecular Imaging/Nuclear Medicine Research

The recent press release from SNM encourages Molecular Imaging research in a big way by awarding numerous grants to various researchers active in the field. Click below for details.
SNM Awards $105,000 in Support of Molecular Imaging/Nuclear Medicine Research

GE CEO Jeff Immelt about India and globalization

In the recently held panIIT-conference at silicon valley, Jeff Immelt has talked about India and globalization. Click here for details.
I particularly appreciate following statements.
"India’s global success will be judged on how well it can “leave the country and become great global companies in the next ten years."
“In the end we need to earn the right to globalize.”
“There are four categories that might change the world: Solving a problem, redeployment to where profits get made, allowing people to achieve lower cost and allowing people to create new business models.”
“If I had one dollar to spend today, I would invest in solving the biggest problem today–the economics of scarcity.”
Solid speech!!!

JSMI 2007 conference

Conference venue (Phoenix plaza, Fukui)

Inaugural talk (Dr. Jurie Gelovani)

Poster area

Banquet hall

The Japanese Society for Molecular Imaging (JSMI) conference that took place last week on 28th and 29th June was a successful event. This year nearly 400 participants attended from all over Japan and expert delegates were invited from US and Europe to speak in plenary sessions. As hosts, our research group from BIRC had to take up different jobs ensuring everything goes in perfection. The conference venue was Phoenix plaza, located in the central Fukui. The conference hall was splendidly arranged with a large stage and huge screen for projection. I and my foreign colleagues were assigned the job of timekeeping for presentation sessions. There were some elegant presentations by expert speakers from abroad and home as well.

JSMI conference preface

Starting tomorrow the second Japanese Society for Molecular Imaging (JSMI) conference is going to be held at my present abode city of Fukui. I am glad to say the founder of the society is my chief supervisor, Prof. Fujibayashi. The first conference was held at Kyoto last year and our group in partnership with Kyoto university were the hosts. However, in this year we are the sole host of the conference. Hopefully the intense preparations done by our group for hosting it should yield success.

President of India-Speech at IIT-Kharagpur

The President of India, Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam gave a speech/lecture (Lecture 1 and Lecture 2) at the inaugaration of Dr. BC Roy multispeciality research center at IIT Kharagpur. It really is impressive and stimulating. He asserts the importance of scientific research in developing a nation's economy. The talk also features scientific but humane attitude of eminent nobel lauerates from India and abroad. The paths to India's future exhaustively described in Lecture 2 is exemplary. I believe each Indian should contribute to his vision of seeing India as a developed nation before 2020. Kudos to you Sir!

Imaging at the Molecular Level - Sam Gambhir's podcast

Here's a podcast interview of Dr. Sam Gambhir briefing on impact of Molecular Imaging to the current medicine and healthcare of future. The interview was conducted by Lumera, a polymer nanotechnology corporation.
The key points Dr. Gambhir emphasized was the current knowledge of molecular interactions occuring in the cellular machinery is still insufficient for effective practice of medicine. The aim of MI research should focus to decipher such cellular interactions in their native state. In general the master controller of cellular processes is constituted by DNA or genetic makeup of the cell. Rapid advances in human genome sequencing and other imaging or biomarker diagnostic technologies could facilitate therapeutic interventions at earlier time points and both diagnostic tests and therapy options be customized to the individual patient.

IIT-Kharagpur scientist patents hydrogen-harvesting technique

The scientists (my respected teachers) of biotechnology department from my former Institute, IIT-Kharagpur (No.1 tech college of India) has patented a new mehodology of harvesting hydrogen. With the rising energy demands around the world and especially in India, it is imperative to look for alternative renewable energy resources. Hydrogen fuel is one such which is eco-friendly and could be a relatively safe biofuel. For more details look here.

Molecular Imaging Centre in Bangalore

I am greatly surprised to know that Bangalore, my hometown is the first to establish a molecular imaging centre in India. Thanks to GE healthcare and healthcare global enterprises (HCG) for taking the initiative in the right spirits and time. Though the development in molecular imaging is rapid in west or in east such as here in Japan, it still had to begin in India. Hope the waves of this new health discipline spreads across the shores of other Indian cities in the years to come.
I wish even the Indian government takes a keen interest to foster such centers in the public sector.

Molecular imaging expands its boundaries

The highlights of the recently concluded SNM meeting in which molecular imaging research had been given a profound boost are well summarized in the following link.
Molecular imaging expands its boundaries - MedicalPhysicsWeb
Key take-home points are

• FDG-PET can accurately identify a patient's response to neoadjuvant therapy for esophageal cancer. (MUNICON trial of 110 patients)
• FLT-PET can determine brain tumor (recurrent malignant gliomas) patients' response to drugs within one or two weeks of treatment initiation. (UCLA trial of 19 patients)
• Combined myocardial perfusion SPECT+64-slice CT angiography can increase the accuracy of coronary artery disease diagnosis.
• PET-CT using a novel CT contrast agent (N1177 - a macrophage specific nanoparticulate contrast agent) can detect high risk atherosclerotic plaques.
• PET-CT imaging can effectively diagnose graft infection and differentiate it from surrounding soft-tissue infection. (A study in Israel on 39 patients with 69 vascular grafts)
• PET-CT is invaluable in the management of patients with suspected recurrent ovarian carcinoma. (A multicenter study in Australia on 90 patients)
• PET-CT is invaluable for non-invasively monitoring Crohn's disease. (A study in Belgium on 22 patients)

We Forget to Remember

Forgetfulness (Amnesia) is not considered as a disorder as long as one forgets the unimportant things and retains the important ones. In other words, to retain or remember a thing requires a degree of importance given to it which always is subjective. Recollecting the past at times is easy for some or complex for others. This depends on how an individual's brain stores the information through its various neural processes. Memory in general also depends on associative informations that is stored along with the actual information, one of which is emotion. In a recent study published online in Nature Neuroscience, using functional MRI the authors analyze how the amnesia towards useless information favors remembering useful information. Read the news article here We Forget to Remember.
The "title" and 'abstract' of the original published article are as follows:
"Decreased demands on cognitive control reveal the neural processing benefits of forgetting"
'Remembering often requires the selection of goal-relevant memories in the face of competition from irrelevant memories. Although there is a cost of selecting target memories over competing memories (increased forgetting of the competing memories), here we report neural evidence for the adaptive benefits of forgetting—namely, reduced demands on cognitive control during future acts of remembering. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during selective retrieval showed that repeated retrieval of target memories was accompanied by dynamic reductions in the engagement of functionally coupled cognitive control mechanisms that detect (anterior cingulate cortex) and resolve (dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex) mnemonic competition. Strikingly, regression analyses revealed that this prefrontal disengagement tracked the extent to which competing memories were forgotten; greater forgetting of competing memories was associated with a greater decline in demands on prefrontal cortex during target remembering. These findings indicate that, although forgetting can be frustrating, memory might be adaptive because forgetting confers neural processing benefits.'

Recently I came across one more interesting area of cognitive research called "Qualia", a psychological property related to sensual perception, through an article in Japan times. Its amazing to research how different neuronal properties influence the perception, state of mind and memory in an individual. Reading the article made me believe that neuroscientists in general need to possess philosophical thoughts to postulate neuronal activities.

Definition of Molecular Imaging

A new (standard) definition of Molecular Imaging is formulated by Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence (MICoE) standard definitions Task Force and SNM.
"Molecular imaging is the visualization, characterization, and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular levels in humans and other living systems. To elaborate; Molecular imaging typically includes 2- or 3-dimensional imaging as well as quantification over time. The techniques used include radiotracer imaging/nuclear medicine, MR imaging, MR spectroscopy,optical imaging, ultrasound,and others."
The group also defined related terminologies:
"Molecular imaging agents are probes used to visualize, characterize, and measure biological processes in living systems. Both endogenous molecules and exogenous probes can be molecular imaging agents."
"Molecular imaging instrumentation comprises tools that enable visualization and quantification in space and over time of signals from molecular imaging agents."
"Molecular imaging quantification is the determination of regional concentrations of molecular imaging agents and biological parameters. Further, molecular imaging quantification provides measurements of processes at molecular and cellular levels. This quantification is a key element of molecular imaging data and image analysis,especially for inter- and intrasubject comparisons."

Other key statements regarding MI were

• it personalizes patient care such as in several cardiovascular, cancer and neurological disorders.
• it is useful in drug discovery and development --to characterize pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

For exhaustive information read here.

NEW WEBPAGE of Society of Nuclear Medicine

A new webpage of SNM is released from today coinciding with the start of 2007 annual meeting. It looks brilliant with easily browsable categories, predominantly using latest functionalities of flashplayer. Browse n see!

World's First MR-PET machine

Siemens has taken the imaging world by a surprise introduction of world's first MR-PET machine. Siemens Demonstrates World's First System Capable Of Simultaneous Imaging Of The Brain By MRI And PET
The combination of high resolution imaging platform of MRI and high sensitive imaging platform of PET was always a dream choice of imaging for medical practitioners. Siemens has truly paved the way for adding a cap to the feather of already popular PET-CT. Will this bring another revolution in medical imaging? But it definitely takes imaging closer to molecular levels--a revolution for Molecular imaging.
For now, have a look of the first human MR-PET images at Siemens website.

Molecular Imaging week

The upcoming SNM conference has a buzz of molecular imaging again with the district of Columbia declaring as Molecular Imaging week starting from June 3. SNM is highly promoting Molecular imaging research among its research community, also thanks to corporate companies who highly sponsor the big event every year. Have a look at this link. HealthTech Wire : Pressrelease

Molecular Imaging Market

Found a report on upcoming market value of molecular imaging. It seems an interesting one, but unable to read the full text as it comes with a market price too!!!
Major Issues and Challenges Facing the Worldwide Molecular Imaging Market - PET, SPECT, MRI, CT, Ultrasound, Fusion and Optical Imaging

This link peeks in that report to announce that world MI market is set to reach $4.75 billion in 2010!!!

Canary Foundation and Stanford University Announce Center of Excellence for Cancer Early Detection

Canary Foundation and Stanford University Announce Center of Excellence for Cancer Early Detection

A big funding for molecular imaging research for early cancer detection is granted to Stanford. Hmm...looks good for MI research(ers)!

16,000 Radiologists Gather For A Congress In Vienna: Innovations In Imaging Technologies Benefit Patients

Seems molecular imaging is being considered as one of the major booster for upcoming research in radiology.....or can it establish into a new scientific field as told by Prof. Herold in a preamble to European Congress of Radiology (ECR) meet currently on going at Vienna.
16,000 Radiologists Gather For A Congress In Vienna: Innovations In Imaging Technologies Benefit Patients.

Bruker Daltonics expands Maldi Molecular Imager: News from Bruker Daltonics

Bruker Daltonics expands Maldi Molecular Imager: News from Bruker Daltonics
It seems all variants of imaging instrument companies want to associate themselves with the term 'molecular imaging'. The latest MALDI system from Bruker also incorporates it in a unique way!

VisEn Medical - Merck collaboration

VisEn Medical Announces Initiative With Merck to Develop Molecular Imaging Agents for Key Areas in Cardiovascular Disease
This could be the key collaboration in an effort to answer the complex biological phenomenons via in vivo optical imaging. I believe the future of Molecular imaging lies in development of such imaging paradigms to characterize in in vivo models all that one has learnt theoretically in basic medical sciences.

Siemens Medical Solutions Collaborates with Wyeth

Siemens Medical Solutions Collaborates with Wyeth to advance Molecular imaging for drug development. I guess more drug companies will vie for such opportunities to collaborate with other imaging companies.

Penn researchers develop two novel imaging techniques

Penn researchers have developed two novel MR imaging techniques -

1) Imaging lung using hyperpolarized He gas and

2) Viusalizing polarized C-13 labeled molecules. For details click below.

MR technique - Visualizing polarized C-13 labeled molecules

Reading Human Minds

Never thought that imaging can go so ahead to read people's mind. I am not sure how reliable it is. I have to read the complete article to come to any conclusion. Here's the link!
FOXNews.com - Computers Can Read Your Intentions Better Than Ever Before - Science News Current Articles

Here is the actual article published in Current Biology!

Nanotech-drug combination to treat brain tumors

A study by UM researchers combines the use of nanoparticles and a new anti-cancer drug photofrin to treat brain tumors. Read the link!
Small Times - Recent developments announced by University of Michigan, U.S.