The International Molecular and Functional Pulmonary Imaging Workshop

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funding is requested to cover the travel and lodging expenses of the invited speakers for an international workshop on molecular and functional pulmonary imaging. We are also requesting funds for the webcasting and publication of this meeting~ we plan to broadcast the entire program over the Internet as we have successfully done in our last workshop. This conference is a three day workshop that is scheduled for May 15 through May 17, 2013 and will be held on the campus o the University of Pennsylvania right before the Annual Meeting of the American Thoracic Society, which will be held in Philadelphia from May 17 through May 22, 2013. Unlike our previously held workshop on pulmonary imaging, which had focused mostly on structural and functional imaging of pulmonary disorders, the main focus of the upcoming pulmonary workshop will be on the latest developments of molecular probes. These probes are able to provide information on pulmonary disorders at the cellular and molecular level. Alongside this focus on molecular probes for pulmonary imaging, we will also discuss the latest development on structural and functional pulmonary imaging. This workshop is designed to bring together a great variety of knowledge, experience and perspective from a diverse group of investigators~ it will cover the following topics: (1) developent of probes for inflammation, macrophages, apoptotic pulmonary cells, enzymatic activities, signal pathways, redox state, vascular injury, proteolysis, and fibrotic activities~ (2) applications of the currently used molecular imaging techniques such as optical methods, PET, and MRI for assessment of pulmonary disorders~ and (3) a brief overview of the currently used imaging method for obtaining quantitative assessment of lung structure and function. The specific aims of this workshop include: (1) to focus the attention of the pulmonary community on state of the art methods for developing and testing of molecular probes relevant to pulmonary disorders as well as methods under development, in order to foster dialogue about their areas of utility~ (2) to introduce the pulmonary and imaging communities to molecular and optica methods for assessment of metabolic activities in the lung, and their potential diagnosic applications~ (3) To facilitate closer dialogue between experts with applicable knowledge form both industry and academia~ (4) to disseminate the considerable information presented to the largest possible audience via live internet broadcast~ (5) to bring the largest possible diversity of interest and opinion to the floor by allowing non attending audience members to participate in the discussion via an interactive technological mechanism.