Summary
The overall goal of this project is to to combine X-ray CT (XCT) and Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT) into a hybrid, quantitative system and method, engineer the optimal theory and inversion approaches for achieving a highly performing and synergistic system and perform preclinical imaging with a view towards clinical translation and therapeutic intervention. Major focus is given to preclinical imaging of breast cancer, as the most probable entry points of this approach to the clinic.
The system will operate by:
1) co-registering XCT images with highly performing FMT images for merging anatomical, functional and molecular contrast and by
2) combining XCT information into the FMT inversion to provide a system with superior imaging performance.
XCT-based correction can improve FMT performance in a more radical way than corresponding correction methods used for improving Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) images. In this way FMT-XCT can reach the imaging accuracy of radio-nuclei-based tomography hybrid systems. By using fluorescence, FMT-XCT can then enable high flexibility in targeting physiology and molecular function, especially in multi-spectral mode, and high dissemination potential because virtually any biomedical laboratory has access to fluorescence reporting, compared to radio-nuclei based research that requires access to radiochemistry and cyclotron facilities.
Overall the technology is ideally suited for commercial translation and has the potential to become the method of choice for in-vivo imaging in most biomedical laboratories and in select clinical application.