ENCITE Symposium”Red hot MRI: In vivo 19F imaging” Towards clinical application

Nijmegen, The Netherlands, October 29, 2012: The European Network for Cell Imaging and Tracking Expertise (ENCITE) held a 2-day symposium at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (NL) on October 25-26, 2012 on the emerging technique of fluorine (19F) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), titled "Red hot MRI: In vivo 19F imaging".

19F MRI is uniquely applicable to areas such as cell tracking. This has yet to be applied in the clinic, although clinical trials are ongoing. The field has made tremendous progress since its first demonstration in 2005, in a paper in Nature Biotechnology. Since that time, several research groups throughout Europe have been working on this issue. In particular, the following research organisations within the ENCITE consortium have been closely collaborating on this for three years now: Max-Planck-Institute for neurological science (DE), Westfälische Wilhelmsuniversität Münster (DE), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE), Leiden University Medical Center (NL) and Erasmus MC (NL). Thus, this symposium was organised to bring together researchers interested in 19F MRI, and provide an informal platform for discussing the technique and problems encountered.

The first day of the meeting was open to all scientists, and the second was for ENCITE members only. This was the first meeting of its kind in the Netherlands. The programme included invited keynote talks and abstract presentations. A wide range of topics were presented, such as chemical syntheses of novel probes, design and optimisation of imaging sequences, cell labelling and hardware development.
In total, more than 50 registrants and 15 abstract submissions were received from Europe, mainly from The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Italy. Abstracts were received from both academia and industry. The format of the meeting allowed plenty of time for questions and answers as well as fruitful discussions, and the participants responded enthusiastically. The symposium was endorsed by the European Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB).

Due to the success of the meeting, it is planned to organise this workshop on a regular basis.

Details on the latest news: www.encite.org

For further information on the project please contact:
European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), Project Coordination
Neutorgasse 9, 1010 Vienna (AT)
Phone: +43-1-5334064-20 / office@eibir.org / www.eibir.org, www.encite.org

Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Gabriel P. Krestin, ERASMUS MC, ehaas@eibir.org
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EIBIR - European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research
Website: www.eibir.org
Contact: office@eibir.org

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zur Förderung der Erforschung der biomedizinischen Bildgebung
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T +43 1 533 40 64-20, F +43 1 535 70 41
www.eibir.org
office@eibir.org

This release was published on openPR.