Nobel Symposium, "Watching Life through Molecular Imaging," Co-Hosted by Drs. Gambhir and Ringertz

Posted 11:13 AM, July 23, 2007, by jaruiz

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The first Nobel Symposium to focus exclusively on molecular imaging was held at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, from May 6 to 9, 2007. The conference featured world-renowned experts who addressed the increasing importance of molecular imaging for visualizing the biological processes in living organisms at the cellular and molecular levels. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, a pioneer in the field of molecular imaging, was selected to coordinate and host "Watching Life through Molecular Imaging" along with Hans Ringertz, MD, PhD, visiting professor of radiology at Stanford and professor emeritus of radiology at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Dr. Ringertz has been a member of the Nobel Assembly for Medicine and Physiology since 1986, and he was chair of the Nobel Assembly in 2003.

Drs. Gambhir (left) and Schwaiger (right)

"Watching Life through Molecular Imaging" featured an impressive list of speakers including Elias Zerhouni, MD, director of the National Institutes of Health, who delivered the opening address on the role of imaging in transforming medicine. The keynote speaker was the original inventor of positron emission tomography (PET), Michael E. Phelps, PhD, professor and chair of molecular and medical pharmacology as well as director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Phelps addressed molecular imaging with PET in molecular diagnostics and molecular therapies.

Dr. Zerhouni delivers the opening address.

Other distinguished speakers included one of the co-developers of the combined PET/CT scanner, David W. Townsend, PhD, professor of medicine and radiology as well as director of the Cancer Imaging and Tracer Development Research Program at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Along with Dr. Ronald Nutt, president of CPS Innovations, Dr. Townsend developed the combined PET/CT scanner, which was named by Time magazine as the medical invention of the year 2000. Also among the conference presenters were Stanford scientists Craig Levin, PhD, associate professor of radiology (nuclear medicine), and Christopher Contag, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics (neonatology), associate professor of microbiology & immunology, and associate professor of radiology.

Drs. Townsend, Levin, and Contag

In his closing remarks, Dr. Gambhir noted the rapid development and immense promise of molecular imaging to provide tools for the far earlier detection of cancer and the assessment of therapy response. Specifically, he praised the interesting results in hyperpolarized MRI; the improvements in imaging agents; the importance of nanotechnology; and the increase in signal amplification. His closing remarks also addressed a myriad of new breakthroughs made possible by molecular imaging such as an increased understanding of brain biology, particularly in the areas of addiction and Alzheimer's disease.

Simultaneously, Dr. Gambhir stressed that the field needs molecular imaging and "morphologic and anatomical imaging to advance" together. A main theme of his closing remarks and the conference was the importance of unifying across multiple modalities and disciplines to encourage drug development; consortium activities for sharing imaging biomarkers; and clinical translation. "We need to start unifying principles even in the complex environment of tumor biology," Dr. Gambhir asserted, "by looking at the relationships between components of a system."