“Hybrid Optical Tomography for Small Animal Imaging”

Optical imaging in small animals has been used widely because of its unique features including non-ionization, cost effectiveness, high intrinsic contrast and well-developed exogenous molecular probes. Its applications in imaging targets (e.g. cancers or stem cells) deeper than 1 mm below skin are limited by optical scattering which degrades spatial resolution and quantification of the optical imaging.

To overcome this obstacle, two hybrid imaging methods have been proposed, x-ray luminescence optical tomography (XLOT) and simultaneous positron emission tomography and fluorescence optical tomography (PET/FOT). In the XLOT, collimated x-ray beams excite nanoparticles to emit optical photons which are measured to reconstruct the nanoparticle distribution inside tissues. XLOT has the high sensitivity of optical imaging and high resolution of x-rays. The PET/FOT is implemented by a conical mirror insertion into the PET scanner. The performances of the PET/FOT were evaluated and validated with in vivo imaging experiments.

When: Thursday, November 8, 2012 4:10 PM

Where: 1005 GBSF