Providence Convention Center and Travel Award list
My Poster and Water-fire display
I attended the AMI/RSNA/SNM/SMI clinical pre-conference symposium and Joint molecular imaging conference held at Providence, Rhode Island in USA from September 7-11, 2007. This was my third successive time to attend the molecular imaging conference. Unlike the previous years, in which the Society for Molecular Imaging (SMI) organized the event, this year a joint conference was held following the merging of SMI and Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI). The conference venue of Providence was an aesthetically pleasing locale for the big event.
The pre-conference symposium was held on Sept 7th and 8th consisting of various categories to educate the clinicians and researchers about fundamental aspects and utilities of various imaging modalities. I had registered for ‘Molecular Imaging Fundamentals in Medicine’ which covered wide ranging topics such as molecular biology, nanotechnology, optical imaging, neurological, cardiovascular, stem cell and cancer imaging strategies. The use of microarray for determining gene expression patterns in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease or physiological conditions such as aging and learning was reported. However, the requirement of biopsy and low spatial resolution limits were presented as impediments for the technology to enter clinical practice. The presentation on nanotechnology focused on various issues to be dealt before in vivo application and addressed the need for achieving signal amplification by conjugation strategies and development of multi-functional or multi-modal nanoparticle agents. Various optical imaging strategies were discussed based on protease or cathepsin B over-expression and integrin targeting using RGD peptide conjugated fluorescent probes for intra-operative imaging. Another upcoming optical imaging approach called Photoacoustic imaging was elaborated, which notably has high resolution and can reach a depth of ~5 cm with NIR excitation and ICG contrast. In the recent developments in ultrasound molecular imaging, a possibility of real time imaging using multifrequency transducers and Fluorine-18 labeled microbubbles capable of generating both ultrasound and nuclear contrast were reported. A study from MGH reported about an optical imaging probe called Prosense Molecular Imaging probe (NIR Fluorochrome activated by disease associated cysteine protease) which is being validated for ovarian tumor detection and is already in Phase 1 clinical trial.
This year there were over 980 abstracts selected for the Joint Molecular Imaging Conference meeting, with ‘Cancer detection imaging’ topping at 151, followed by 73 on ‘Quantitation in molecular imaging’ and varied numbers in other categories. The meeting started with a keynote lecture from Sir George Radda of University of Oxford. He began his talk with mechanisms governing homeostasis and mentioned about the four key elements in cellular dynamics – energetics control, ionic fluxes, signal transduction and gene expression. He stressed the importance of integrative approach to human disease involving characterization of changes in molecular events in an individual subject (i.e. taking personalized medicine to molecular level). Majority of talk focused on various biochemical events such as mitochondrial energy coupling, myocardial triglyceride content detection by MRS, PPAR activation and so on, that are being targeted for molecular imaging.
From the next day, the plenary and concurrent sessions were held with poster sessions in the evenings of each day. Some of the interesting presentations can be grouped as per the educational objectives defined by the Molecular Imaging committee.
The pre-conference symposium was held on Sept 7th and 8th consisting of various categories to educate the clinicians and researchers about fundamental aspects and utilities of various imaging modalities. I had registered for ‘Molecular Imaging Fundamentals in Medicine’ which covered wide ranging topics such as molecular biology, nanotechnology, optical imaging, neurological, cardiovascular, stem cell and cancer imaging strategies. The use of microarray for determining gene expression patterns in neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease or physiological conditions such as aging and learning was reported. However, the requirement of biopsy and low spatial resolution limits were presented as impediments for the technology to enter clinical practice. The presentation on nanotechnology focused on various issues to be dealt before in vivo application and addressed the need for achieving signal amplification by conjugation strategies and development of multi-functional or multi-modal nanoparticle agents. Various optical imaging strategies were discussed based on protease or cathepsin B over-expression and integrin targeting using RGD peptide conjugated fluorescent probes for intra-operative imaging. Another upcoming optical imaging approach called Photoacoustic imaging was elaborated, which notably has high resolution and can reach a depth of ~5 cm with NIR excitation and ICG contrast. In the recent developments in ultrasound molecular imaging, a possibility of real time imaging using multifrequency transducers and Fluorine-18 labeled microbubbles capable of generating both ultrasound and nuclear contrast were reported. A study from MGH reported about an optical imaging probe called Prosense Molecular Imaging probe (NIR Fluorochrome activated by disease associated cysteine protease) which is being validated for ovarian tumor detection and is already in Phase 1 clinical trial.
This year there were over 980 abstracts selected for the Joint Molecular Imaging Conference meeting, with ‘Cancer detection imaging’ topping at 151, followed by 73 on ‘Quantitation in molecular imaging’ and varied numbers in other categories. The meeting started with a keynote lecture from Sir George Radda of University of Oxford. He began his talk with mechanisms governing homeostasis and mentioned about the four key elements in cellular dynamics – energetics control, ionic fluxes, signal transduction and gene expression. He stressed the importance of integrative approach to human disease involving characterization of changes in molecular events in an individual subject (i.e. taking personalized medicine to molecular level). Majority of talk focused on various biochemical events such as mitochondrial energy coupling, myocardial triglyceride content detection by MRS, PPAR activation and so on, that are being targeted for molecular imaging.
From the next day, the plenary and concurrent sessions were held with poster sessions in the evenings of each day. Some of the interesting presentations can be grouped as per the educational objectives defined by the Molecular Imaging committee.
- Explain methods of target identification and probe development for disease targets. The ultrasound contrast agents in the form of microbubbles were used by many groups specifically targeting VEGF receptor (to detect angiogenesis in tumors), integrins (to detect αvβ3 expression) and selectins (to study dynamic selectin activity in vivo). In a study targeting ErbB-2 receptors the researchers developed a phage display selected peptide, and showed specific binding to ErbB-2 expressing tumor cell lines both in vitro and in vivo.
- Describe effective approaches to cancer and cardiac disease detection and outcome measures. The development of high resolution PET applicable for cardiovascular molecular imaging was reported which contains high density avalanche cathode detector yielding a submillimeter resolution with respiratory and cardiac gating recorded in list mode data. The group from Stanford reported on usage of ultra high sensitivity and multiplexing characteristics of Raman spectroscopy into a new preclinical imaging device for non-invasive cancer imaging. They incorporated Raman-active nanoparticles (single walled nanotubes, SWNTs) conjugated with RGD peptide to localize αvβ3 expressing tumors in nude mice and imaged using optimized Raman microscope.
- Evaluate the potential of new imaging methods to detect disease early in its course and recognize when there is the potential for improved outcome. The advantage of using multi-photon microscopy was demonstrated in which due to higher depth penetration, quantitative functional analysis of skeletal muscle with 3D structural depiction or visualization of LDL deposition between collagen and elastin layers of vessel wall was feasible. A new method of generating B1 contrast using micro-resonant devices (MRDs), which are basically micron-sized solid-state devices, was reported to provide high sensitivity 3D localization using 3T MRI. A novel MR-based PET attenuataion correction was presented where in researchers proposed using a combination of atlas-registration and local pattern recognition to predict a pseudo-CT image. They also validated an approach that can quantify PET images with an error that is smaller than what is clinically significant.
- Describe the new imaging paradigms in drug discovery and development. The importance of parallel analysis technologies so as to introduce an ‘exploratory’ phase in drug development was noted. Broad-based methods such as microarrays or proteomic approaches for pharmacodynamics and stratification in early drug development was recommended.
- Recommend imaging and therapy combinations. A research group from MGH/Harvard medical school presented in vivo imaging of siRNA delivery and silencing in tumors. To achieve this, they developed a dual-purpose probe called MN-NIRF-siSurvivin that enables both tumor delivery and imaging by MRI. Using that probe, they reported significant silencing of the tumor-specific, anti-apoptotic gene birc5 (encoding Survivin) and also capability to monitor tumor regression by MRI and NIRF imaging.
- Appraise the role of molecular imaging in cellular, stem cell, and gene therapies. In order to quantify endothelial binding of targeted radioactive liposomes, a research group from University of California presented an approach incorporating heart-homing peptides onto the liposome surface which also consists of [18F]fluorodipalmitin ([18F]FDP) radioactive lipid. The accumulation of liposomes in the heart muscle was up to 60% ID/g and averaging several fold higher than in liver, lung or skeletal muscle. An optical reporter based strategy was presented to facilitate real-time monitoring of post-translational stabilization of β-catenin, a key signaling component of the canonical Wnt pathway. This system was proposed to be useful to determine pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles of drug candidates.
Apart from presentations, there were few posters which were informative and educative. My poster was under the category of “Imaging gene expression” and I had some thoughtful discussions with various researchers on utility and development of my adenoviral reporter gene system. I am glad to recieve this year's student travel award for my abstract. Besides the educative presentations, the organizers had arranged for cultural extravaganza of Providence which included water-fire display on the Providence river. The next year's meeting is announced as World Molecular Imaging Congress to be held in Nice, France. With the society growing big and getting more and more international participants including from Asia, I wonder the prospects of the meeting happening in Asia, and particularly in Japan.
