Although the research has only just begun at the newly established In vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Centers, or ICMICs, the researchers have jumped in and are covering many cancer research bases. Here are basic descriptions of activities under way at each of the centers.
Massachusetts General Hospital/ Harvard Medical School
At Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, virtually all imaging modalities are being put to the test, including optical near infrared fluorescence imaging and tomographic fluorescence imaging, technologies that are similar to fluorescence microscopy, but allow access --up to 10 centimeters--within animal tissues. "There is no single imaging modality that is uniquely suited to answer all the questions," says Ralph Weissleder, director of the Center for Molecular Imaging Research, and principal investigator (P.I.) of this ICMIC. "It's like in a laboratory--you use a light microscope, a fluorescence microscope, a confocal, and so on. It all depends on the question...
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