Funding: In vivo imaging

4 January 2008

The growing importance of in vivo imaging is exemplified by two equipment grants awarded through the Physiological Sciences stream.

In vivo imaging is proving an increasingly useful tool in medical research, as it allows scientists to follow changes in live animals over a period of time and in a noninvasive way. Professor Philip Blower and colleagues from King’s College London have been awarded funding for a small animal PET/CT (positron emission tomography/computerised tomography) scanner. This machine will allow researchers to develop and test new approaches in molecular imaging (using biomarkers such as radiolabelled chemicals) in animals before they are used for clinical diagnosis or medical research in humans.

Dr Ian Marshall and colleagues from the University of Edinburgh have received funding for a high-resolution ultrasound scanner. Many conventional machines lack the sensitivity required for imaging small animals, so this equipment will enable researchers to examine genetically modified mice (used to model human diseases) at high resolution in real time.

Image: PET scanner (human version)