Dementias Platform UK MR-PET Partnership

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Imaging has become the most informative technology for our understanding and diagnosis of brain changes that underlie and likely cause dementia. It has also undergone very rapid technological progress, making it possible to obtain scans within about 30 min with little discomfort for patients and volunteers in dementia research. However, in order to obtain complete information up to now two different types of scans, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), are required for instance in clinical trials of new drugs against Alzheimer's disease and in research studies to ultimately prevent dementia. Very recent new technology now allows acquiring both, MRI and PET, simultaneously in a single scanning session in one hybrid MR-PET scanner. The dementias platform UK (DPUK) has been successful in acquiring a capital grant to build a unique national dementia imaging network based on seven closely collaborating MR-PET scanners located at universities across the UK. This partnership grant will ensure that these centres work closely together to ensure that scans are being recorded and analysed everywhere to the same highest standards. Thus, the network will provide a unique and world-leading homogeneous platform for dementia research in much larger cohorts of patients and volunteers than possible until now, enabling clinical trials and research studies at an unprecedented scale.We are seeking support for four task forces in this grant. The first task force will ensure effective communication between all partners and DPUK, but also beyond to engage with all relevant stakeholders, including patient advocacy and support groups, research organisations, scientific societies, and pharmaceutical industry. The second task force will ensure proper staff training. This is particularly relevant because traditionally training for technical MRI and PET staff has been organised in separate curricula with little interaction, and also because there are two different manufactures of MR-PET scanners with their own technical specifications and training schedules. These borders will be overcome by systematic cross training in MRI and PET on MR-PET scanners of both manufacturers. The third task force will perform a pilot study to actually harmonise scanning and image reconstruction across all centres and manufacturers. This will ensure that studies will be conducted by all partners to the same standards. The fourth task force will deal with regulatory aspects which are highly relevant for the further development of PET methods, which depend on new imaging agents (tracers). These new agents will often need to undergo clinical trials, similar to new therapeutic agents, and we envisage that this collaboration would provide an excellent opportunity to facilitate this process.