Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science
(VUIIS):
- is a trans-institutional initiative within
Vanderbilt University serving physicians, scientists, students
and corporate affiliates
- brings together a strong faculty of imaging
scientists with diverse backgrounds and broad expertise in a
comprehensive, integrated program dedicated to using imaging
to improve health-care and for advancing knowledge in the biological
sciences
- pursues research in developing new imaging
methods as well as applications in cancer, neuroscience, metabolic
disorders, cardiovascular disease and other areas
- operates state-of-the-art facilities for imaging
research at all scales including imaging animals and human subjects
- provides an exemplary training environment
for postdoctoral fellows, graduate and medical students, and
undergraduates
- is supported by grants from the NIH, NSF, DOD,
DOE, industry and foundations, as well as Vanderbilt University
Since the first X-ray images were produced at
the end of the 19th century, medical imaging has provided information
of vital importance about the inner structure and function of
the body for clinicians and scientists. Biomedical imaging techniques
have developed in recent years into a compendium of increasingly
powerful technologies that are used not only for diagnosing diseases
but also for the study of biological structure and function, of
metabolism and physiology, and of fundamental molecular and cellular
processes.
The development in the past two decades of new
and more powerful imaging technologies such as MRI and PET, coupled
with the explosive growth in the power of digital computers, have
dramatically changed the nature of biomedical imaging science.
Imaging plays a central role in patient management and care and
provides crucial insights into the pathophysiology of many types
of disease, such as cancer and neurological disorders.
In addition, in vivo imaging methods also have
widespread application in the elucidation of biological structure,
in the study of basic biological functions and physiological processes,
and in drug discovery. For example, the development of functional
brain MRI (FMRI), and the study of brain neurochemistry by MR
spectroscopy and PET imaging, are recent advances that promise
to have a major impact on our understanding of how the brain works.
New technological developments and advances in molecular sciences
have expanded the applications of imaging to many new areas of
medicine, such as the study of the effects of genetic modifications
and of gene expression in animals. At Vanderbilt we believe the
greatest successes for imaging in the future will come from environments
where the complementary natures of different imaging approaches
are exploited, where experts in basic sciences and technical aspects
of image formation and analysis collaborate closely with biomedical
scientists who ask appropriate questions, and where the basic
underlying science of imaging is fostered.
