Functional Molecular Imaging with MR-PET
Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD Massachusetts General Hospital Athinoula A. Martinos Center
The field of molecular imaging has grown at a rapid rate in recent years, as imaging technologies enable ever-finer examination of the human brain and other organs, and as clinicians and researchers alike seek to understand the mechanisms that underlie conditions such as cancer, heart disease, brain disorders and diabetes. Early detection of disease and monitoring of potential therapeutic interventions requires technology sensitive to the subtle changes that occur at the cellular and molecular level.
PET and MRI are widely used in vivo for both clinical and research applications. Used with novel MR, nuclear, and multimodal probes, these imaging modalities have begun to revolutionize the types of questions that can be asked in vivo, permitting examination of physiological and pathological functions in living cells, tissues, and organs at their most basic level. Used in combination, the individual strengths of MRI and PET can inform one another to yield new insights that expand the types of physiological information that can be gained through in vivo imaging and thus also expand the impact of human health imaging by enlarging the window of anatomical size, time scales, resolution, sensitivity, and specificity of detection for which imaging is currently used.
Combined MR-PET imaging technology allows investigators to employ the benefits of MRI such as phased array coils for high speed, high resolution functional imaging, while simultaneously acquiring quantitative metabolic or receptor-specific neurochemical data. Simultaneous MR-PET imaging has the distinct advantage of spatial co-registration of biochemical function with anatomical structure. Perhaps more importantly, MR-PET allows researchers to temporally co-register physiological data using PET and functional MRI (fMRI), such that the hemodynamic information from fMRI may be used to feed quantitative analysis of PET data. Using this information, researchers can understand the interplay between blood flow, receptor occupancy, and metabolism—as well as the contributions of each in disease and therapy response. As such, combined MR-PET has significant clinical potential to impact not only all aspects of patient care, from screening to disease assessment and therapy monitoring, but also to lead to new dual-modality MR-PET probes that can provide complementary information for precise quantitative assessment of biological function not obtainable in other ways.
Dr. Rosen is Professor of Radiology at the Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Science and Technology at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. He is Director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Rosen is a world-leading expert in functional neuroimaging. Over the past thirty years he has pioneered the development and application of many novel physiological and functional nuclear magnetic resonance techniques to measure hemodynamic and metabolic changes associated with brain activation and cerebrovascular insult as well as complementary tools to measure microvascular and microstructural morphology. These and other techniques he has developed are used by research centers and hospitals throughout the world to study and evaluate patients with stroke, brain tumors, dementia, and neurologic and psychological disorders. Most recently, Dr. Rosens work has focused on the integration of fMRI data with information from other modalities, including positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and noninvasive optical imaging. By using fMRI tools to evaluate the linkage between neuronal and physiological (metabolic and hemodynamic) events during periods of increased neuronal activity, his studies will allow researchers to better interpret fMRI signal changes and develop new ways to probe brain function.
Dr. Rosen leads the activities of several large interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research programs including the NIH Blueprint-funded Human Connectome Project, the NIBIB Regional Resource Center, the Center for Functional Neuroimaging Technologies (CFNT), and the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN) Collaborative Tools Support Network. He is Principal Investigator/Program Director for two neuroimaging training programs. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles as well as over 50 book chapters, editorials and reviews.
Dr. Rosen is the recipient of numerous awards in recognition of his contributions to the field of functional MRI, including, most recently, the 2011 Outstanding Researcher award from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), and the Rigshospitalets International KFJ Prize from the University of Copenhagen/Rigshospitalet. Dr. Rosen is a Fellow and Gold Medal winner for his contributions to the field of Functional MRI from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
ABOUT THE MARONEY-BRYAN LECTURE
The Biomedical Engineering Department awards the Maroney-Bryan Lectureship once a year to someone who plays a pivotal role in the field of biomedical engineering. The Maroney-Bryan Lecture is graciously funded by John Maroney and Sarah Bryan, friends and supporters of the UC Davis Biomedical Engineering Department.
WHEN: Friday, April 18, 2014 4:00 PM RECEPTION FOLLOWS AT 5:00 PM
WHERE: 1005 GBSF