Over the past 30 years, medical imaging has advanced beyond mere projection to cross-sectional views at ever-higher speeds and resolutions that enhance observation of medical problems and provide more opportunities for minimally invasive therapeutics. The Ohio State University Medical Center’s Department of Radiology has been a pacesetter in biomedical imaging research that translates to innovative clinical applications.
The research backbone of the Imaging Signature Program – led by Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Radiology – is the Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging, also known as the Biomedical Structural, Functional and Molecular Imaging Enterprise at Ohio State. The Wright Center was launched in May 2003 with state funding from a $9.1 million Third Frontier Grant and an $8 million Biomedical Research and Technology (BRTT) award. Knopp is principal investigator for both. The Center is designed to advance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), positron emission tomography (PET) and mobile imaging technologies while creating an extensive imaging and bioinformatics structure. It also supports other biomedical research endeavors at Ohio State.
Imaging Signature Program highlights of 2006:
- The state of Ohio announced continued funding for the Wright Center of nearly $8 million for three years starting in May 2006. This initiative provides the foundation for the next level of hybrid imaging at Ohio State.
- The National Cancer Institute awarded Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC), in conjunction with the Department of Radiology, a three-year grant of $738,813 to continue developing noninvasive imaging assessment methodologies to reveal early biologic response to cancer treatment. Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, a member of the OSUCCC, is project leader. The OSUCCC is one of only eight cancer centers nationwide to receive this grant.
- As a result of a state grant application involving several community partners for a large project proposal for imaging research, the Department of Radiology realized an award of $700,000 from one of the partners, Pfizer Inc., and gained wider opportunities with state and industry partners for imaging endeavors.
- The Department of Radiology’s budgeted research portfolio exceeds $40 million, up from $1.2 million in 2002.
- Five faculty were recruited in 2006.
- Collaboration continues with Novartis Pharmaceuticals in advanced imaging methodologies for clinical trials; 22 trials are under way.
- The Department of Radiology is in its fourth year as a core lab for the national Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) in studying mechanisms of DNA damage and repair at the molecular level.
- Molecular-level research is keeping pace with National Institutes of Health awards in: characterizing mechanisms of chemopreventive agents, cancer therapy in combination with chemical and radiological agents, modulation of genes and proteins regulating cellular proliferation and apoptosis, and genetic damage and repair; studying anticancer topoisomerase poisons, including analysis of new drugs, proteomic analysis of post-translational modifications of topoisomerases associated with drug exposure, and disruption of cancer cell metabolism by anticancer drugs; and investigating genomic instability in cancer pathogenesis with a focus on the regulation of DNA damage in normal and cancerous cells and on mechanisms of cross-talk among molecular pathways that control cellular homeostasis.
