This course deals with the potential and the feasibilities of in vivo imaging of disease-related molecular markers in small laboratory animals. Namely, in vivo molecular imaging has been established to be a critical component of preclinical and translational biomedical research. It allows researchers to determine the biological structure and function of molecular markers by non-invasive means in situ in the body, i.e. without the withdrawal of tissue from the body for further analysis. This means that quantitative, spatial and temporal information on normal and diseased tissues can be determined, for example of those associated with cancer, inflammation or neurodegenerative diseases. Particular aims of such research activities are the discovery and analysis of disease-associated molecular interrelations, the elucidation of dedicated therapeutic effects, and validation of new drugs in the in vivo situation. There are several imaging modalities available for small animal imaging (e.g. mice and rat), such as whole body near infrared optical imaging, computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance tomography (MR), etc.

In this course students will have the opportunity to get insights into: 1) the principles of the most important small animal molecular imaging modalities, 2) the construction of molecular imaging probes, 3) the basic requirements for animal experimentation, 4) the imaging of a local inflammation by utilization of small animal molecular imaging modalities, 4) the analysis of probe pharmacokinetics and the definition of physiological barriers counteracting to probe accessibility, and finally 5) the identification of potential pitfalls in image interpretation. Methods will cover areas concerning fluorescence microscopy, cytology, cell culture, optical spectroscopy, protein chemistry, pharmacology, disease models in mice, macroscopic optical imaging, CT imaging, histology, data analysis and statistics, etc.

Hands-on experience will be guided by experienced staff of the “Experimental Radiology Group”. All demonstrations and experimentation will be performed on state of the art devices and complemented with lectures on molecular imaging technology.