Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar Series

Friday, November 30, 2007
Optical Imaging for Medicine and Biology: Applications in Cancer Detection
8:00AM-4:00PM, Cocktail Hour 4:00-5:00PM
The Photonics Center
8 Saint Mary's Street, 9th Floor
Boston, MA 02215

Host:
Professor Jerome Mertz, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Boston University
College of Engineering
44 Cummington Street
Boston, MA 02215

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Emerging Technology and Best Practices Seminar Series

Speaker: Jeff Peterson, Ph.D.

Title: In Vivo Fluorescent Imaging of Mouse Disease Models

Abstract:
The ability to non-invasively study and quantify the underlying biology of diseases in real time is critical in the characterization and monitoring of therapeutic interventions. Assessing biological processes with specific near infrared (NIR) probes, in combination with Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT) imaging, allows for the 3-dimensional detection and quantitation throughout the body. This generates a greater amount of biological information than possible with traditional optical technologies that are limited to epifluorescence detection with little ability to provide absolute quantification. For example, using targeted or protease-activated fluorescent probes and FMT instrumentation it is possible to label disease processes in mouse models, such as tumor growth, bone degeneration, and inflammation, and then generate deep-tissue, quantitative, reconstructions of the appropriate disease regions. The technique is fast and non-invasive, and it provides a view of underlying disease pathology that aligns with histologic and other standard research metrics currently in use. An overview of VisEn Medical’s FMT platform will be presented, and examples of the use of the technology to study complex disease processes will be discussed.

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