Optical Resources for Molecular Imaging Center

描述（由申请人提供）：生物学的进步为分子医学奠定了基础-识别和纠正导致疾病的分子错误。这一点，再加上成像和计算技术快速发展的创新，正在推动“分子成像”领域的一场革命，即成像提供从单个细胞到人类的生命系统中分子分布和功能的非侵入性可视化。事实上，预计分子成像将成为新疗法转化为临床应用并针对个体患者进行优化的主要机制。在NIH/NCI P20规划拨款的支持下，南加州大学（USC）健康科学校区目前正在开发一个分子成像中心，这是南加州大学PET成像科学中心（PET ISC）和诺里斯综合癌症中心（NCCC）的共同努力。这使得PET ISC的研究人员和癌症中心的生物学家之间产生了许多合作项目。本提案中要求的设备将主要用于支持PET ISC和NCCC之间的合作努力。南加州大学医学院最近资助了一项翻新工程，在PET ISC内提供了一个成像实验室，毗邻我们的回旋加速器/放射化学设施。影像实验室目前配备了一套放射自显影系统、一套用于大型动物的全尺寸PET扫描仪和一套用于啮齿类动物的新型微型PET扫描仪。该提案要求为PET成像实验室提供资金，用于显微镜和小动物水平的光学成像。这将通过允许(a)在细胞、组织和整个动物水平上对基因表达和蛋白质功能的互补可视化，以及(b)高效和准确地制备荷瘤和转基因小鼠和大鼠，极大地提高我们实验放射性核成像能力的有效性。光学成像更容易、更便宜，而放射性核技术提供三维精确的绝对定量。在光学成像的支持下，在临床前研究中开发的PET技术或多或少应该直接转化为临床应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advances in biology have laid the basis for molecular medicine - the identification and correction of molecular errors that underlie disease. This, coupled with rapidly evolving innovations in imaging and computing technology, is driving a revolution in a field referred to as "molecular imaging", i.e., imaging that provides non-invasive visualization of molecular distribution and function in living systems ranging from individual cells to human beings. Indeed, it is expected that molecular imaging will become the primary mechanism by which new treatments are translated into clinical use and optimized for individual patients. With support from an NIH/NCI P20 planning grant, a molecular imaging center is currently being developed on the Health Sciences campus of the University of Southern California (USC) as a joint effort between the USC PET Imaging Science Center (PET ISC) and the Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC). This has given rise to a number of collaborative projects between investigators in the PET ISC and biologists at the Cancer Center. The equipment requested in this proposal will be used primarily to support the collaborative effort between the PET ISC and NCCC. The USC School of Medicine recently financed renovations that provide an Imaging Laboratory within the PET ISC adjacent to our cyclotron/radiochemistry facility. The Imaging Laboratory is currently equipped with an autoradiography system, a full-scale PET scanner for large animals and a new miniature PET scanner for rodents. This proposal requests funding to equip the PET Imaging Laboratory for optical Imaging at the microscopic and small-animal levels. This will greatly enhance the effectiveness of our experimental radionuclear imaging capabilities by permitting (a) complementary visualization of gene expression and protein function at the cellular, tissue and whole-animal levels, and (b) efficient and accurate preparation of tumor-bearing and transgenic mice and rats. Optical Imaging is easier and cheaper, while radionuclear techniques provide accurate absolute quantitation in 3 dimensions. PET techniques developed in preclinical studies with the support of optical imaging should translate more or less directly into clinical applications.