Therapeutic Imaging

在目前的大多数医疗实践中，诊断成像和治疗程序本质上是分开的，通常涉及完全不同的专家团队。虽然这利用了狭窄专业的高度发达的技能，但它可能有明显的缺点：它是资源密集型的；缺乏实时监测增加了治疗无效或附带损害的风险；由于疾病进展，诊断和治疗之间和/或治疗和随访之间的漫长等待时间在心理上和身体上往往对患者有害；患者不参加或不遵守治疗方案的风险也在增加。拟议的研究计划的目的是建立一个世界领先的多学科团队，开发新的方法和技术，将真正整合诊断和治疗程序，并在临床实践中产生一个台阶的变化。研究活动将集中在三个领域：-开发新型靶向药物递送剂，使临床医生能够监测药物和其他治疗材料的放置，运输和控制释放。-了解这些药物与细胞和组织相互作用的机制，以便设计更安全、更可靠的递送策略-设计技术，不仅可以跟踪治疗材料，还可以主动操纵和刺激。这项研究的结果将通过提供新的、更高效的和有效的程序，直接使患者、临床医生和其他保健工作者受益。这将通过生物医学和制药行业的新产品和服务，以及通过减少对医疗保健资源的需求，直接产生经济效益。为了实现这些成果，研究战略的一个关键特征将是与临床和工业合作伙伴保持密切的工作关系，以保持对最相关研究挑战的工作重点，并确定和获取最合适和最有效的翻译途径。这项研究还将导致新的发现和一系列实验和理论工具的发展，这将直接有利于研究界。因此，该方案的另一个重要方面将是培训研究小组，使其能够跨越学科界限并通过更广泛的公众参与活动进行有效沟通。通过建立拟议的试点研究和与学术界、临床医生和工业界的合作，将构建一个研究项目组合，该项目组合将维持该小组的活动超过5年，以充分实现从概念到临床的诊断成像和治疗的整合。

In the majority of current medical practice, diagnostic imaging and therapeutic procedures are intrinsically separate, often involving entirely different teams of experts. Whilst this takes advantage of the highly developed skills of narrow specialisms, it can have significant drawbacks: it is resource intensive; lack of real-time monitoring increases the risk of ineffective treatment or collateral damage; long waiting times between diagnosis and treatment and/or treatment and follow up are psychologically and often physically detrimental to patients due to disease progression; and there is increased risk of patients not attending or not complying with treatment regimes. The aim of the proposed research programme is to build a world leading multi-disciplinary team to develop new methods and technologies that will truly integrate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures and produce a step change in clinical practice. The research activity will be focused in three areas:-Developing new types of agent for targeted drug delivery which will enable clinicians to monitor the placement, transport and controlled release of drugs and other therapeutic material. -Understanding the mechanisms by which these agents interact with cells and tissue to enable the design of safer, more reliable delivery strategies-Designing technology that will not only enable tracking of therapeutic material but also active manipulation and stimulation.The outcomes of the research will directly benefit patients, clinicians and other healthcare workers by providing new, more efficient and effective procedures. This will in turn yield economic benefits, directly through new products and services for the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries, and by reducing demand on healthcare resources. To realise these outcomes, a key feature of the research strategy will be to maintain close working relationships with both clinical and industrial partners to maintain the focus of the work on the most relevant research challenges and to identify and access the most appropriate and efficient routes for translation.The research will also lead to new discoveries and the development of a range of experimental and theoretical tools which will be of direct benefit to the research community. Another important aspect of the programme will thus be training of the research team to communicate effectively across disciplinary boundaries as well as through wider public engagement activities. Through building on the proposed pilot studies and collaborations with academics, clinicians and industry a research project portfolio will be constructed which will sustain the activity of the group beyond 5 years in order to fully realise the integration of diagnostic imaging and therapy from concept to clinic.