Functional Imaging

Many of the advances in diagnosis and treatment of diseases have stemmed from our ability to detect and visualize diseased tissue and lesions. Since energy interacts with matter, depending on the energy source, the tissue components scatter or absorb the radiation and this can be used to generate detailed maps of living systems.  In recent years the development of more sophisticated instrumentation, algorithms and imaging agents have enable the in depth visualization of tissues and in some cases the real-time mapping of events such as the firing of neurons during memory recall using positron emission tomography. The most commonly used clinical imaging modalities are magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computer aided tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and acoustic imaging (ultrasound or sonography). The latter is used routinely for screening breast tissue for suspicious tissue mass (screening mammography). While contrast can be generated in X-ray and MRI imaging using intrinsic differences in tissue environment such as in the case of CT the increased scattering of X-ray due to the presence of mineral phase in bone and micro-calcifications (in breast tissue)  provides contrast, and in the case of MRI the difference in the bound state of water (T1 imaging) and diffusivity of water (T2 imaging) in various tissues provides some inherent contrast.  Nevertheless, contrast agents are often necessary to improve this contrast and to reduce false or misdiagnosis.  Further enrichment of spatial and functional information can be gained by co-registering images from multiple imaging modalities (multimodal image coregistration).  In pre-clinical studies the development of imaging techniques based on near-infrared probes has opened a new window for getting improved functional information that can be critical in developing new paradigms and strategies to treat cancers in particular.  Our efforts are focused on combining fluorescence trans-illumination with micro-CT and the development of multimodal imaging probes for these imaging modalities, and methods to detect and monitor changes to tumor environment.
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