PROG 4- CANCER IMAGING

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

The goal of the Cancer Imaging Program is to advance cancer research, diagnosis, and management by carrying out novel research in multimodality anatomical and molecular imaging (MI). The ultimate goal is to introduce new multimodality imaging strategies into studies of molecular mechanisms, diagnosis, and treatments of cancer. The program is comprised of investigators whose work stems from seven specialty areas: imaging instrumentation/engineering, modeling/biostatistics, chemistry, molecular imaging assay development, cancer biology/proteomics, mouse models/small animal imaging/in vivo MI/therapeutic applications in cancer therapy, and clinical oncology. Research by program members has resulted in a number of exciting findings, including new methods to image cancer gene therapy, methods to study cell trafficking, new imaging probes for apoptosis, and novel breast cancer imaging instrumentation. The Program adds value to the center by bringing biologists, chemists, engineers, radiologists, computational scientists, and clinical and translational researchers together to participate in developing innovative imaging tools and approaches. The 36 program members come from 11 School of Medicine, School of Engineering, and School of Humanities & Sciences departments. Members are major participants in one P50 program project, one R24 project, two U54 projects (one is an award in progress), two program project grants and three training grants. Direct cost funding in 2005 was $15.9 million including $9 million in NCI research funding and $6.9 million in other peer reviewed funding. Members generated 594 publications over the past six years, of which ~16% and ~11% were intra- and interprogrammatic collaborations, respectively. Dr. Sam Gambhir, the Program leader, is a distinguished physician-scientist with an international reputation in molecular imaging and a laboratory program in multimodality molecular imaging. Dr. Christopher Contag, Program co-leader, is an accomplished scientist with major scientific contributions in the areas of stem cell biology, cancer imaging and tissue response to insult and is co-director of MIPS, and Faculty Advisor of the Cancer Imaging Shared Resource. The leadership is united in its goals for program development to advance cancer imaging.