Development of quantitative MRI and PET techniques for biological applications

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Magnetic Resonance Imaging is one of the most versatile imaging techniques for studying fundamental properties of tissue. Its intrinsically non-invasive character makes it particularly suitable to study human and animal biology. Although it can generate images with very high spatial resolution, its sensitivity is somewhat limited. Positron Emission Tomography is an imaging technique that uses specially designed radiotracers to study specific biological processes at a molecular level. Unlike MRI, PET imaging is very sensitive; however it suffers from limited spatial resolution. Since MRI and PET provide often complementary information, carrying out combined MRI/PET studies on the same animal will provide research capability that is significantly improved over the means of each technique alone. Long term objective of the proposed research programme is to develop quantitative MRI and PET techniques and experimental setup for the combined MRI/PET technology for biological applications.