A. PETROSIUTE, J. MYERS, A. HUANG
These days, cancer has a harder time hiding out. With modern imaging tools, inquiring researchers can ogle its every move, from a tumor’s growth to its inner workings to its effects on surrounding tissues.
“Imaging, I think, is made for cancer,” says Zaver Bhujwalla, director of the In Vivo Cellular Molecular Imaging Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “You can study so many different aspects of cancer.”
For example, scientists can observe metastatic cells changing location in real time or watch for days and weeks as a tumor attracts new vasculature. Utilizing an abundance of tracers and reporter genes, researchers can visualize a cancer’s biochemistry, including its off-kilter metabolism. They can also monitor where a potential new cancer drug goes and ...
