Imaging Research Shared Resource

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IMAGING RESEARCH SHARED RESOURCE PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Imaging Research Shared Resource (Imaging SR) is an essential asset to Case Comprehensive Cancer Center (Case CCC) members' research, illustrated by the breadth of scientific program involvement and reflected in the number of investigators who use this SR. Last year alone, over 45 investigators, 54% of whom were Case CCC members, accounting for 71% of total usage, from 6 out of the Center’s 7 Programs used the SR. The mission of the Imaging SR is to provide all cancer investigators with a comprehensive array of preclinical and clinical imaging capabilities to deliver in vivo and in situ imaging assessments of cancer. The Imaging SR is an institutional facility integrating state-of-the-art and comprehensive imaging capabilities both for animal models of cancer, as well as pediatric and adult patients. Enabling these efforts is the Imaging SR’s established operational and administrative infrastructure including a fully equipped preclinical imaging facility with onsite animal housing; a research-dedicated human MRI scanner; as well as research radiochemistry facilities including a cyclotron and multiple hot cells. The Specific Aims of the Imaging SR are to: 1. Provide preclinical and clinical research imaging services to cancer investigators. 2. Provide imaging expertise to design effective cancer imaging experiments. 3. Provide project-specific quantitative image analysis capabilities. 4. Synthesize both conventional and novel radiotracers for PET cancer studies. 5. Train new users in the proper and safe operation of the imaging systems. At last review, the Imaging SR was rated Excellent to Outstanding Merit. Throughout the current funding cycle (2012-2016), the Imaging SR provided services to 83 registered users, 48 (58%) of whom are Case CCC members, representing all 7 of the Case CCC programs. The Imaging SR also has access to the full breadth of imaging resources provided by the Department of Radiology at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) / University Hospitals (UH) Cleveland Medical Center including multiple clinical imaging scanners. Additional preclinical imaging capabilities are housed at the Lerner Research Institute (LRI) at Cleveland Clinic (CC) including a new preclinical MRI scanner and multiple in vivo bioluminescence and fluorescence scanners. Overall, the Imaging SR presents an efficient and cost-effective opportunity for cancer investigators to comprehensively evaluate novel pathways in cancer initiation and progression as well as new therapeutic strategies and methodologies for early cancer detection with the ultimate goal of improved care and longer lives of cancer patients.