Translational Imaging Shared Resource

Roswell Park Cancer Institute Corp, Buffalo NY

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

The overall mission of the Translational Imaging Shared Resource (TISR) is to provide state-of-the-art preclinical and translational imaging services to investigators at Roswell Park in a time-efficient and cost- effective manner. The resource provides users access to advanced imaging modalities including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound (US), photoacoustic imaging (PAI), fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging (BLI). The resource is led by two PhD faculty with extensive experience in preclinical and clinical imaging, and is the only shared resource within 200 miles of Buffalo that allows for multimodal anatomic and functional imaging of small and large animal models of disease. TISR served a total of 67 Roswell users, of which 60 (90%) were CCSG members, including 46 CCSG members with peer reviewed funding and 14 CCSG members without peer reviewed funding from all five research programs who are conducting basic and translational investigations in oncology, radiology and cancer therapeutics. This has led to 4 patents and 71 peer-reviewed publications including several publications in top-tier cancer and imaging journals. In the past 5 years, TISR has provided imaging services for 41 NIH grants and 6 DoD grants. TISR was also awarded two NIH S10 shared instrumentation grants that enabled expansion of its imaging services to include state-of-the- art optical and optoacoustic imaging methods. The resource provides cancer center members 24/7 access to and training in the application of non-invasive imaging technologies for their cancer research needs. The specific aims of the TISR are to: 1) Provide Roswell Park investigators with access to state-of-the-art in vivo imaging technologies; 2) Develop customized imaging protocols and quantitative image analysis schemes to conduct preclinical trials of experimental therapeutics in small and large animal models of cancer; 3) Establish a technology platform that facilitates clinical translation of imaging methods for improved disease detection and therapy monitoring in patients. An integral part of TISR operations is the continual assessment of need for expanding and/or updating imaging technology through evaluation of current demand, feedback from existing users and anticipated future research needs of cancer center members. Future plans for TISR include upgrading the existing MRI instrumentation and expansion of imaging services to include PET/SPECT and CT.