Imaging Techniques and Instrumentation
Full course description
Imaging technologies find their way into basic research, instrumentation development and applications in an attempt to understand local changes in complex and dynamic systems.
A key element in the selection of an appropriate imaging technology for the research question at hand. Different technologies offer different abilities to study processes from the single cell level (at the nanometre scale) to industrial processes that occur on the scale of meters or more. In some cases, mere morphological information suffices to solve a problem. In other cases, you need structural molecular information. Advanced imaging techniques such as optical microscopy, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), mass spectrometry (MS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) play an increasingly important role in both academic and industrial research. In this foundational course, you learn about elements of imaging technological choices, comprehensive image capture, data analysis and interpretation to answer research questions associated with molecular imaging in variety of different scientific disciplines. For example, you will be able to select the appropriate imaging technology when presented with a scientific problem where in-vivo and ex-vivo imaging is contrasted with morphological imaging and molecular imaging. This course will thus lay a foundation for the rest of the Master’s programme.
Course objectives
After completing this course, you are able to:
- Understand the basic concept and scope of molecular imaging and functional imaging
- Recognise and apprehend different instrumentation components in the different imaging technologies
- Apply fundamental concepts behind each imaging technique to understand how signals are generated, collected and analysed and what molecular information they carry
- Explain critical elements of imaging technological choices, including comprehensive image capture, scale, data analysis and interpretation to answer research questions associated with molecular imaging in variety of different scientific disciplines
- Describe a basic strategy to interpret imaging results
- Work in groups to select and unambiguously motivate an appropriate (molecular) imaging strategy to solve a dynamic and spatially complex problem
Recommended reading
- James, M. L., & Gambhir, S.S. (2012). A molecular imaging primer: modalities, imaging agents, and applications. Physiological reviews, 92(2), 897–965. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00049.2010
- Gilmore, I.S., Heiles, S., & Pieterse, C.L. (2019). Metabolic Imaging at the Single-Cell Scale: Recent Advances in Mass Spectrometry Imaging. Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry, 12, 201-224. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anchem-061318-115516