Dr. IIMA Mami【 L-INSIGHT fellow 】
L-INSIGHT fellow / Kyoto University Hospital / Assistant Professor

A/Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Karampinos
Experimental Magnetic Resonance Imaging School of Medicine & Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering Technical University of Munich

PD Dr. Sebastian Bickelhaupt
Institute for Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen

Dr. Felix Kurz
Division of Radiology
DKFZ

Dr. Van Anh Tu
Experimental Magnetic Resonance Imaging, School of Medicine & Munich Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Technical University of Munich

Bridging the gap between macro and micro scale in tumor imaging

Background/Motivation
We will aim to establish a trans-scale imaging method that connects a whole body, tissue, and cellular scales using MRI etc, especially diffusion MRI, which can evaluate the movement of water molecules in vivo. In the diagnosis of cancer, it is important to understand the phenomenon and elucidate the mechanism by traversing various scales, such as the tumor microenvironment and micrometastases that may exist throughout the body. However, the understanding of the principles that will lead to the elucidation of new pathological conditions at the microscopic level involving elemental interactions in biomolecules and cells, and at the meso- and macro-level involving tissues and organs, has not yet been fully developed.
The current MRI has difficulty in measuring and evaluating the micro level, especially in terms of resolution, and thus we will aim to develop this method further to establish trans-scale imaging to visualize cancer characteristics on a longitudinal scale and exploit them for cancer diagnosis and prognosis prediction.