• GUEST: Vasilis Ntziachristos

🎧 Tune in for a dynamic discussion on how the interplay of light and sound is revolutionizing our understanding of disease.

🎙️ Welcome to Episode 15 of “Dive into Imaging Science”!
In this edition, we’re delighted to introduce: none other than Vasilis Ntziachristos as our guest!

Vasilis is a distinguished leader in the field of optical and optoacoustic imaging, renowned for his pioneering work in fluorescence molecular tomography, fluorescence-guided surgery, and optoacoustic mesoscopy. But his career didn’t begin there. In this episode, we learn how a shift from physics to engineering – and from NMR to optical imaging – was sparked by the influence of key mentors in the field.

With his characteristic charm and charisma, Vasilis reflects on the importance of surrounding oneself with those who challenge boundaries and reimagine what’s possible – an ethos that has defined his own scientific journey..

🎯 Staying close to home, this episode explores how optoacoustic mesoscopic imaging is being used to study colitis, inspired by research from the labs of Sarah Bohndiek in Cambridge and Adrian Regensburger in Erlangen:

Published in Advanced Science, their work introduces a novel ‘transrectal absorber guide’ – an imaging approach that enables visualization of the colon from outside the body. Using this new method, they surprisingly demonstrate how inflammation reduces blood vessel coverage and length but increases vessel diameter.

Vasilis walks us through the fundamentals of this technique, and we dive into the nuances of signal acquisition and image segmentation..

🍸 For this episode it was quite easy to choose. Something that takes us back 20 years or so in Boston and the early days of fluorescence molecular tomography, a drink enjoyed at Sonsie, one of the best bars in downtown Boston at Newbury street: The Grey Goose martini – a twist on the vodka martini cocktail.

Recipe: 3 parts Grey Goose Vodka, 1 part dry Vermouth and garnish with cocktail olives. Great things can come in very simple forms.

Selected Publication: Buehler A, Brown EL, Nedoschill E, Eckstein M, Ludwig P, Wachter F, Mandelbaum H, Raming R, Oraiopoulou ME, Paulus LP, Rother U, Friedrich O, Neurath MF, Woelfle J, Waldner MJ, Knieling F, Bohndiek SE, Regensburger AP. In Vivo Assessment of Deep Vascular Patterns in Murine Colitis Using Optoacoustic Mesoscopic Imaging. Adv Sci (Weinh). 2024 Dec;11(45):e2404618. doi: 10.1002/advs.202404618. Epub 2024 Oct 22. PMID: 39439243; PMCID: PMC11615813.

Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: office@e-smi.eu

• GUEST: Peter J.H. Scott, University Michigan (Ann Arbor)

🎙️ Welcome to Episode 14 of "Dive into Imaging Science"!
In this edition, we’re thrilled to welcome a very special guest: Peter Scott!

Peter’s passion for radiochemistry and his dedication to translating research into clinical applications have made a lasting impact on the field of Theranostics – also the central theme of this year’s TOPIM (don’t forget to check it out!). By following Peter’s inspiring career journey, we gain valuable insights into how the field has evolved over the years.

The Scott Lab focuses on using PET radiotracers to deepen our understanding of disease mechanisms and to develop companion diagnostics that support therapeutic innovation. A key focus of Peter’s work is the design and synthesis of novel PET tracers for imaging CNS disorders.

🎯 This brings us to this episode’s spotlight topic: Radiotheranostics in Alzheimer’s Disease.
Our discussion is sparked by a study from the group of Tara E. Mastren at the University of Utah, published in The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The paper investigates the use of targeted alpha therapy to reduce Amyloid-β aggregates – an intriguing approach that raises important questions about its potential in Alzheimer’s treatment.

We explore the immense potential of radiotheranostics in CNS disorders, as well as key challenges such as delivering compounds across the blood-brain barrier and minimizing effects on healthy tissue.

🍸 Continuing our tradition, we celebrate our guest with a special cocktail — this time, a nod to Peter’s love of gin and his British background. For this edition: the "Bee’s Knees", a classic from the Prohibition era, with a modern twist inspired by The Gin Vault in Birmingham. A simple, elegant sour to keep us energized — and just the right mix of sharp, sweet, and smooth.

Recipe: 3 parts Gin – 1 part lemon juice – 1 part blood orange juice – ½ part honey syrup

🎧 Tune in for a deep and dynamic discussion at the intersection of chemistry, imaging, and clinical innovation!

Selected Publication: Bender AA, Kirkeby EK, Cross DJ, Minoshima S, Roberts AG, Mastren TE. Development of a 213Bi-Labeled Pyridyl Benzofuran for Targeted α-Therapy of Amyloid-β Aggregates. J Nucl Med. 2024 Sep 3;65(9):1467-1472. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.124.267482. PMID: 39054283.

Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: office@e-smi.eu

• GUEST: Fabian Kiessling, Aachen

Welcome to the Christmas edition of "Dive into imaging science"! Giannis and Tim have their festive hats on and are wearing their dodgy Christmas jumpers, ready for a cracker (!) of an episode. And we have a very special guest on the show – none other than our current past president, Fabian Kiessling, who heads up the Institute of Experimental Molecular Imaging and the Helmholtz Institute for Biomedical Engineering at Aachen University.

We explore how to ‘make the visible invisible’ in the groundbreaking paper from the lab of Guosong Hong at Stanford by achieving optical transparency in live animals using a food dye that’s an ingredient in many potato chips! We conclude that this isn’t, in fact, the end of non-invasive imaging; instead, it opens a new frontier for optical and photoacoustic techniques.

Along the way, we learn that Fabian could have been a policeman if only he hadn’t been “a little bit weak in differentiating red and green” and that being a scientist is very much like being an artist. We discuss reproducibility in science, the importance of co-locating labs and people, and were swept along by Fabian’s passion for imaging science.

Cocktail - Continuing our tradition, we enjoy a special cocktail : It’s a Christmas and Aachen special so what better way to celebrate it with a twist on the Gluehwein Cretan style: Giannis’ own home-made brandy and raki (cretan grappa that is), red wine, cinnamon sticks, cloves, honey and a red orange slice from his garden.

Selected Publication: Ou Z, Duh YS, Rommelfanger NJ, Keck CHC, Jiang S, Brinson K Jr, Zhao S, Schmidt EL, Wu X, Yang F, Cai B, Cui H, Qi W, Wu S, Tantry A, Roth R, Ding J, Chen X, Kaltschmidt JA, Brongersma ML, Hong G. Achieving optical transparency in live animals with absorbing molecules. Science. 2024 Sep 6;385(6713):eadm6869. doi: 10.1126/science.adm6869. Epub 2024 Sep 6. PMID: 39236186.

Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: office@e-smi.eu