GUEST: Zaver Bhujwalla, Baltimore
In this episode we discuss how targeting fibroblasts rather than tumour cells may be an effective strategy for both surgical guided resection and as an anti-cancer therapy with Tim’s “academic grandmother”, Zaver Bhujwalla. We discovered Zaver’s roots as a physicist and mathematician, learned about her (unpredictable) interest in cancer metabolism and how she combines tools to develop a powerful in vitro diagnostic test.

Selected Publication: "Design and characterization of fibroblast activation protein targeted pan-cancer imaging agent for fluorescence-guided surgery of solid tumors" published in Journal of Materials Chemistry B, by the the authors Mukkamala R, Lindeman SD, Kragness KA, Shahriar I, Srinivasarao M, Low PS (Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA).

Publication reference: Mukkamala R, Lindeman SD, Kragness KA, Shahriar I, Srinivasarao M, Low PS. Design and characterization of fibroblast activation protein targeted pan-cancer imaging agent for fluorescence-guided surgery of solid tumors. J Mater Chem B. 2022 Mar 23;10(12):2038-2046. doi: 10.1039/d1tb02651h.
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/TB/D1TB02651H
Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: [email protected]

GUEST: Clemens C.W.G. Lowik, Rotterdam
In this episode we discuss and learn about Bioluminescence Imaging and modern tools for multiplexed imaging of different colors, tackling a major challenge of the field. Our guest is one of the founding fathers of the ESMI and pioneers on multicolor BLI, the one and only  Clemens Lowik.
We talk about innovative approaches for unmixing multiple luciferase-luciferin pairs and quantitative analyses of bioluminescent mixtures, enabling serial tracking of heterogeneous cell populations. On the course of our discussion we learn on how such methods will help advance BLI to cover new exciting regimes, but also spill over to the wider optical imaging.
If you’re on to exciting developments of the field - listen carefully!

Selected Publication: "Multiplexed bioluminescence imaging with a substrate unmixing platform" published in Cell Chemical Biology by the authors C. K. Brennan, Z. Yao, A.A. Ionkina, C.M. Rathbun, B. Sathishkumar, J.A. Prescher (University of California, Irvine, USA).

Publication reference: C. K. Brennan, Z. Yao, A.A. Ionkina, C.M. Rathbun, B. Sathishkumar, J.A. Prescher. Multiplexed bioluminescence imaging with a substrate unmixing platform. Cell Chem Biol. 2022 Nov 17;29(11):1649-1660.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2022.10.004. Epub 2022 Oct 24 .
https://www.cell.com/cell-chemical-biology/fulltext/S2451-9456(22)00358-0

Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: [email protected]

GUEST: Simon Cherry, UC Davis
In this episode we discuss (and learn a lot about!) positronium imaging with the co-inventor of Total Body PET, the wonderful Simon Cherry, the physics behind positronium formation, and how it might provide further biological information than standard positron emission tomography imaging. We learnt about Simon’s journey that led him to change the field of clinical PET imaging and what new innovations he has up his sleeve... and if you are looking for a research area that is just waiting to be explored - listen carefully!

Selected Publication: "Positronium imaging with the novel multiphoton PET scanner" published in Science Advances by the the authors P Moskal, K Dulski, N Chug, C Curceanu, E Czerwiński, M Dadgar, +30, and W. Wislicki (Kraków, Poland).

Publication reference: P Moskal, K Dulski, N Chug, C Curceanu, E Czerwiński, M Dadgar, +30, and W. Wislicki. Positronium imaging with the novel multiphoton PET scanner. Sci Adv 2021 Oct 15;7(42):eabh4394. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abh4394. Epub 2021 Oct 13.
https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.abh4394
Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: [email protected]

GUEST: Jolanda de Vries, Nijmegen
In this episode the hosts Tim and Giannis talk with the fantastic Jolanda De Vries from Nijmegen about how dendritic cell therapy got her into imaging and the latest therapeutic cell imaging methods. We touch on multimodality imaging, why imaging isn’t frequently used in the clinic for cell tracking, and why mouse models of cancer might never be good enough.

Selected Publication: "In vivo imaging of nanoparticle-labeled CAR T cells" published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) by the authors L. Kiru, A. Zlitni, A. Michael +9, and H. E. Daldrup-Link (Pediatric Molecular Imaging Lab at Stanford Medicine).

Publication reference: Kiru L, Zlitni A, Tousley AM, Dalton GN, Wu W, Lafortune F, Liu A, Cunanan KM, Nejadnik H, Sulchek T, Moseley ME, Majzner RG, Daldrup-Link HE. In vivo imaging of nanoparticle-labeled CAR T cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Feb 8;119(6):e2102363119 https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2102363119
Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging: https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: [email protected]