Drug Innovation - Location: UMC Utrecht, Blue lecture hall, 16:00 h
Professor Chrit Moonen
Director of the Laboratory for Molecular and Functional Imaging at CNRS/University Victor Segalen (Bordeaux, France)
The team “Molecular and Functional Imaging: From Physiology to Therapy” is a newly created technology development research laboratory (created January 1, 2003) run jointly by the National Center for Scientific Research and the University Victor Segalen Bordeaux. It is composed of about 25 researchers combining physicists, radiologists, biologists, and image processing experts. The team has a strong position in physiological imaging (biomarkers, functional imaging), interventional imaging (thermal therapies) and in the development of image-guided molecular therapies. L ocal drug delivery and activation is especially of interest in gene therapy, because the low specificity of vectors and lack of spatial and temporal control of gene expression are among the main pitfalls of gene therapy. The Bordeaux-group has developed a control system based on the use of the heat sensitive promoter HSP70 and local hyperthermia generated non-invasively by an MRI guided focused ultrasound probe to control local gene expression. Currently, this technology is being expanded to control the transplantation and activation of stem cells. The team is strongly involved in the installation of a cyclotron at Bordeaux, and an association with the Nuclear Medicine Department has been established. The team has high level research collaborations with Philips Medical Systems on imaging technology, Guerbet and Amersham on the development of contrast media, Johns Hopkins Medical School on stem cells, and with the US National Institutes of Health on gene therapy control.
Source: DiMI, http://www.dimi.eu/index.php?id=439