Year 2

In year 2 the microscopic SPECT instrumentation part of the project, from the detection station (Aim 1) to coded aperture (Aim 3), has made significant progress. Ascending from the prototype, some of the rate limiting factors such as high surrounding noise and low energy specificity has been tackled which resulted in a successfully reconstructed, real image of a single cell simulating source. All critical experimental parameters, such as time of imaging, radiation dose needed, have been optimized, fully ready to move on to live imaging of real stem cell. Meanwhile, SPECT-MR instrumentation has been advanced with better collimator design and signal processing as well as with a broadened evaluation. Promising images were obtained that clearly showed non-interfered MR and SPECT of the entire mouse torso.

Stem cell establishment, after the ground breaking year 1, in which the reporting system has been effectively implanted, has gone into the stage of detailed protocol optimization. We spent a large amount of effort determining the dosing as well as the in vivo kinetics of the tracer in a variety of animals under different disease and administration conditions. Although not as shocking, year 2 is as fruitful, for detailed dynamic biodistribution profile of the tracer has been obtained and we are ready to move on to all targeted cell lines and animal models.

Year 2 the company, Gamma Medica, has suffered major organization restructuring which crippled our productivity mainly on the financial part of activities. But nevertheless we kept the research going. Now that the company has stabilized, we are ready to move into year 3, where all specific aims are to be taken to the final stage: to finalize the design and building of the prototypes and move to real life imaging: live single cell and live disease model, which will lead to final goal: commercialization of product design.