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.
On Demand Session
Prof. Ing. Daniel Jirák, Ph.D.
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.