New PET/CT System for Human and Non-human Primate Imaging

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PROJECT SUMMARY Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University (WCM) requests High-End Instrumentation Grant Program support to purchase a new positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) system for imaging humans and non-human primates. Our PET/CT operations are a major component of WCM strategic investment in crucial imaging infrastructure used to advance basic, translational and clinical research, and provides vital tools for our large and growing pool of investigators who utilize PET/CT in their projects. At this point, our existing PET/CT scanner is 12 years old and cannot handle the demand from our large and growing pool of NIH funded investigators. In addition, we now require features such as a long axial field-of-view that are not available on our current PET/CT configuration. WCM is a world leader in biomedical research, and our PET/CT operations have leveraged the technical expertise of our institution to provide support to 35 PET related research projects including 28 NIH supported grants. The proposed whole-body PET/CT scanner is the Vision Quadra system offered by Siemens Healthineers. This new instrument will provide us with state-of-the-art technology, including a 1 meter axial field of view and greatly increased detection sensitivity that will facilitate innovative research projects using PET/CT over the next two decades. Successful completion of this project will contribute significantly to our goal of understanding and treating a wide range of diseases, including neurodegeneration, cancers, psychiatric disorders, genetic disorders, inflammatory diseases, and vascular diseases. The PET/CT suite would be located at Weill Cornell Medical College’s Citigroup Biomedical Imaging Center (CBIC), which is a dedicated, comprehensive, imaging research and development facility located on the campus of the College. The CBIC operates as an imaging research Core facility that serves over 100 investigators from 12 institutions in the greater New York area. The proposed new scanner is critical to our mission of providing high-level, uninterrupted research support for investigators funded by the National Institutes of Health and other sponsors. The proposed scanner will largely replace our current Siemens Biograph mCT system, since its whole-body coverage will significantly advance our research into questions related to the multi-organ nature of many diseases. The new scanner would be used to address critical problems at the frontiers of neurology, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and traumatic brain injury, as well as genetic medicine, including studies of the biodistribution of viral vectors, and the development of precision medicine in oncology.