Washington University Molecular Imaging Center

在人类基因组的精细图谱中，新的医学疗法、诊断方法和治疗方法正在出现。基因组学和蛋白质组学的应用为认识许多疾病的分子基础和确定药物干预和诊断的新靶点提供了新的手段。我们正在经历个性化医疗护理和量身定制治疗的复兴。基于血清、活检和图像评估的新型预后和诊断靶点有望增加患者特异性信息。通常用于研究生物过程的方法是基于生物材料的破坏性采样，因此允许研究人员只看到在各自的实验端点拍摄的静态快照。活细胞荧光显微镜、荧光和生物发光成像以及靶向注射示踪剂的非侵入性成像的发展彻底改变了我们对分子和细胞水平上许多过程的理解，随着用于体内功能成像的合适探针和仪器的发展，我们实时识别和测量生物过程的能力已经逐步扩展到从小鼠到人类的整个生物体。这套新的分子探针、检测技术和成像策略统称为“分子成像”（1-9），为生物学家和临床医生提供了令人兴奋的新机会，可以对完整细胞和活体动物的动态生物过程进行无创和纵向研究。在过去的五年中，一系列突破性的研究表明，分子成像是一种强大的工具，可以可视化整个生物体体内的基因表达、生化反应、信号转导和调控途径。

Novel medical therapies, diagnostics and cures previously not imagined are emerging from the refined map of the human genome. The application of genomics and proteomics has provided new means for recognizing the molecular basis of numerous diseases and identifying novel drug targets for pharmacological intervention and diagnostics. We are undergoing a renaissance in personalized medical care and tailored therapy. Novel prognostic and diagnostic targets based on serum, biopsy and image based assessment promise to increase patient-specific information. Routinely used methodologies to study biological processes are based on destructive sampling of biological material, thus allowing the researcher to witness only a static snapshot taken at the respective experimental endpoint. The evolution of live-cell fluorescence microscopy, fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging as well as non-invasive imaging of targeted injectable tracers have revolutionized our understanding of many processes at the molecular and cellular levels, With the development of suitable probes and instrumentation for functional imaging In vivo, our ability to identify and measure biological processes in real-time has progressively extended to the whole organism, from mice to humans. This new set of molecular probes, detection technologies and imaging strategies, collectively termed "molecular imaging" (1-9), is providing biologists and clinicians with exciting new opportunities to perform noninvasive and longitudinal studies of dynamic biological processes in intact cells and live animals. In the last five years, a series of ground-breaking studies have demonstrated that molecular imaging is a powerful tool that enables visualization of gene expression, biochemical reactions, signal transduction and regulatory pathways in whole organisms in vivo.