Enhancement of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging

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My research deals with medical instruments which make images of "function" rather than "anatomy". The weather map in the morning paper is an example of a "functional image" of Canada. It tells you that there is a storm expected in Ottawa later today, but not the best highway you would use to get from Montreal to Ottawa. A road map shows anatomy, an weather map shows function. Functional images of living creatures have less detail than anatomical images. If the brain of a rat (which was sacrificed while its whiskers were being stroked, and had previously been injected with radioactive glucose), is sliced up we can put the slices on a film and the image shows very fine details of which parts of the brain were active. But in an awake animal or for human imaging such detail is presently not possible since the imaging must be done by external detectors, not by direct contact. Positron emission tomography, or PET, gives clinicians and researchers the best quality functional images of patients and animals which can be presently obtained. The goal of my research is to improve both the spatial and temporal resolution of PET imaging. Just as you would like to know from a weather map if the thunder storm was going to occur over the base-ball stadium or on the other side of town(spatial resolution) and either during or after the ball game (temporal resolution), my research is aimed at providing significant improvements in functional medical imaging. PET, recently combined with the anatomical imaging called CT scanning, shows the best ability to diagnose and stage many cancers. However, it is also the most expensive technique, and PET scans take much longer to perform. One of the projects I want to continue, will make PET scans both faster and more accurate without adding cost. This will allow more patients to be scanned per day, reducing wait-times and cost to the health care system. Another will allow PET to use novel silicon light detectors in an efficient and cost effective way instead of the older photomultiplier tubes (of which there is now only one manufacturer left) presently used.