Bruker at ISMRM 2025

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Erik M. Shapiro is the Associate Chair of Research and a Professor in the Department of Radiology at Michigan State University.

In his talk titled "Functional2 PET/MRI and protein engineering of hepatic OATP transporter activity, Dr. Shapiro discusses the critical role of hepatic organic anion transporting polypeptides (OATPs) in mediating the cellular uptake of hepatospecific MRI contrast agents. He highlights two innovative ways to exploit OATP transporters to enhance biomedical imaging. First, he describes the application of simultaneous PET/MRI to assess hepatic function by pairing MRI contrast agents with complementary PET tracers, achieving a more comprehensive evaluation of liver function in vivo. Second, he introduces the use of OATPs as MRI reporter proteins, emphasizing recent protein engineering advancements aimed at enhancing the transport efficiency of OATPs and discussing novel imaging strategies to further optimize this approach.

Chen, Shizhen Ph.D.（陈世桢) is a Professor at the Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology (APM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Dr. Shizhen Chen's talk, Multinuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Molecular Imaging, focuses on the critical need for early lung cancer diagnosis. She discusses the use of multinuclear ¹H/¹⁹F/¹²⁹Xe magnetic resonance enhancement technology to achieve imaging of the tumor microenvironment. This approach allows for more comprehensive, precise, and non-invasive detection of early-stage lung cancer. Furthermore, it offers a theoretical foundation for the clinical translation of hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe MRI from a fundamental point of view.

Robin A. de Graaf is a Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at Yale University 

Dr. Robin de Graaf’s talk on Deuterium Metabolic Imaging (DMI) – Technical Innovations and (Pre)clinical Applications discusses the long-standing goal of non-invasive imaging of metabolic pathways in neurological diseases to monitor disease progression or therapy efficacy. Robin highlights the advantages of DMI over traditional methods like FDG-PET, including its ability to produce high-contrast 3D metabolic maps using deuterium's favorable MR characteristics. The technique has been effectively applied using deuterated substrates to identify abnormal metabolic profiles in various conditions, including high-grade brain tumors and other neurological disorders. Robin also discusses the origins, current state, recent technical innovations, and future (pre)clinical and research outlooks of deuterium-based MR metabolic imaging.

Dr. Iris Y. Zhou is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and a faculty member in the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging.

Dr. Zhou’s talk, titled "Advancing Molecular MR with Multiparametric and Multimodal Imaging", focuses on the use of targeted contrast agents in molecular MR for highly specific imaging of biological processes. When integrated with other MR readouts, such as structural and functional imaging, it enhances the multiparametric characterization of tissue disease states. Additionally, hybrid PET/MR enables simultaneous and synergistic imaging, combining molecular sensitivity and specificity with morphologic and functional imaging. This approach opens new avenues of exploration in areas such as cancer, chronic injury, metabolic diseases, and molecular probe development.

Prof. Ing. Daniel Jirák, Ph.D. is a Principal Investigator (PI) at the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine in Prague, a professor of biophysics at the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, and Vice-Dean at the Faculty of Health Studies, Technical University of Liberec.

In this talk entitled Non-Metallic Contrast Agents for MRI, Dr. Jirák will discuss various non-metallic MRI contrast agents designed for different nuclei, including ¹H, ¹⁹F, and ³¹P MRI, are presented. These innovative agents offer significant advantages over traditional metal-based compounds, particularly in terms of biocompatibility, specificity, and functional responsiveness. Using specific examples, their potential applications, such as tracking transplanted cells and molecular imaging, are demonstrated. Some of these contrast agents are highly selective (hot-spot imaging) and/or capable of dynamically altering their signal in response to environmental conditions, such as the presence of reactive oxygen species or pH variations. Furthermore, certain non-metallic contrast agents exhibit multimodal properties, meaning they can be used not only for MRI but also for fluorescence imaging, enhancing their diagnostic versatility. Others are designed for multiple nuclei, enabling simultaneous or complementary imaging approaches. These properties make non-metallic contrast agents promising tools for molecular imaging, theranostics, and personalized medicine.