Novel Detector for Molecular Imaging Studies

描述(申请人提供)：微流控装置是分子成像研究的一种很有前途的新兴技术。这些芯片可以包含各种微电路和微孔，并能够处理纳升的试剂和溶剂样本。微流控芯片被设计用于多种应用，例如细胞孵化研究。在微流控芯片上增加对低量放射性进行量化和成像的能力，可以为研究人员提供一个在受控的体外环境中使用放射性标记探针研究分子过程的平台。拟议的工作将旨在研究一种微流控装置，该装置能够检测微流体室中存在的放射性药物发射的带电粒子并对其成像。这种高分辨率探测器将被生产出来，并用于体外分子成像。除了高空间分辨率外，建议的探测器还将能够在远低于(约两个数量级)当前最先进的活体成像生物成像系统的水平上检测细胞的摄取。鉴于这些考虑，建议的探测器将非常有希望在癌症研究中的分子和细胞成像。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Microfluidic devices are a promising, emerging technology for molecular imaging studies. These chips can contain a variety of microcircuitry and microwells, and are capable of manipulating nanoliter samples of reagents and solvents. The microfluidic chips have been designed for a multitude of applications, such as cell incubation studies. Adding the ability to quantify and image low amounts of radioactivity on a microfluidic chip can provide researchers with a platform to investigate molecular processes with radiolabeled probes in a controlled in-vitro environment. The proposed effort will be aimed at investigating a microfludic device capable of detecting and imaging charged particles emitted by radiopharmaceuticals present in the micro-fluidic chamber. This high resolution detector would be produced and investigated for in vitro molecular imaging. In addition to high spatial resolution, the proposed detector will also be capable of detecting uptake in cells at levels significantly below (by about two orders of magnitude) current, state-of-the-art in vivo imaging biological imaging systems. In view of these considerations, the proposed detector will be very promising for molecular and cellular imaging in cancer studies.