UCSF’s Hyperpolarized MRI Technology Resource Center (HMTRC) hosts its 9th International HP Technology Workshop
On April 13-14th 2023, the HMTRC celebrated its 11th year as a center and its annual Workshop continues to have a national and global impact on the advancement of hyperpolarized carbon-13 MR molecular imaging technology. The total number of participants was 230 from academia, industry, and government. This included international participants from China, Denmark, England, Germany, Israel, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan.
The 2023 Workshop boasted the highest attendance since the center’s founding in 2011 with researchers and clinicians (in person and via live-stream) gathering to advance molecular imaging to address unmet clinical needs. Kicking off the event were welcome remarks by Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, Chair of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Dan Vigneron, PhD, Center Director and Zhen Jane Wang, MD, Medical Director.
View the full program.The workshop featured scientific sessions by academic and industry experts who presented on advancements in hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI technology for both preclinical and clinical research, application in human research, and potential for improving disease diagnosis and treatment response monitoring.
The hands-on training and dissemination sessions are particularly valuable to the push-pull development of HP 13C MRI as they focus on the technical aspects of HP 13C MR preclinical and translational research. These topics include dissolution DNP methodology, polarizer instrumentation, MR sequence & acquisition developments, and analysis & display software. Moreover, the workshop shares experiences on several other topics that are critical for clinical research such as pre-clinical HP chemistry preps, human HP investigational dose formulation & production, clinical translation methods, and clinical trial support.
To date, over 72+ sites have visited the HMTRC to receive hands-on training in the technologies and resources developed by the Center. Looking ahead, a key focus of the HMTRC is to further accelerate the clinical translation of this emerging molecular imaging technology through a close collaboration between biomedical imaging scientists and clinicians, as well as through strong partnerships with industry and government agencies. The HMTRC Workshop continues to play a major role in building these partnerships to foster discussions and interactions within the MR molecular imaging community.
Selected recorded video presentations from this year’s 2023 workshop will be posted mid-May on the center’s website.
The Hyperpolarized MRI Technology Resource Center (HMTRC) is supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIH P41EB013598) and focuses on the development and dissemination of new advances in dissolution DNP techniques and instrumentation, specialized data acquisition methodology, and analysis software for biomedical research.