HOUSTON, Jan. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — As pioneers in biomedical imaging and neuroscience, the researchers at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, have long appreciated the physiologic connections shared between the brain and the body. Now it is possible to image connected physiologic systems over the entire body at the same time. A new class of positron emission tomography (PET) scanners is making it possible to image multiple organs and organ systems – from the brain to the heart to the gut – simultaneously with high precision, revealing scientific and clinical insights. Mass General Brigham (MGB) is building a clinical translation and research program around this new technology.
Acquisition of this novel PET technology has been made possible through two grants awarded to Ciprian Catana, MD, PhD, Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Molecular Imaging Core at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center, by the National Institutes of Health and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center. Dr. Catana has long been an innovator in PET technologies that support scientific understanding of the brain and the body. Demand for PET imaging at MGH has been steadily increasing. “These latest awards will increase our molecular imaging capabilities to help meet the growing demand for PET among the more than 200 researchers performing studies at MGH, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology” says Bruce Rosen, MD, PhD, Director at the Martinos Center.
“We selected the United Imaging uMI Panorama GS because of the company’s commitment to develop this novel class of PET/CT scanners,” says Dr. Catana. The uMI Panorama GS is the first PET device to bring together the powerful combination of high spatial resolution, sub-200 picosecond TOF timing resolution, and a large 148 cm of PET coverage to yield sensitivity that is 40 times higher than a conventional PET scanner. “These unique capabilities will give researchers and clinicians across MGB the ability to simultaneously image physiologic systems over the whole body for the first time with extremely high sensitivity and resolution that will lead to a new understanding of the body and disease,” says Dr. Catana. This project is the first phase of a clinical translation research program at MGB that is being led by Dr. Catana in his other role as Director of Collaborative Research and Innovation in Molecular Imaging and Dr. Marcelo Di Carli, MD, Chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Molecular imaging, which uses radiopharmaceutical agents injected into the body to image physiologic function and disease, continues to grow as a field for scientific discovery and diagnosis. “At United Imaging, we are committed to investing in these next-generation technologies that can support the academic mission for scientific discovery and provide equal healthcare for all,” says Jeffrey Bundy, PhD, CEO of United Imaging in North America. United Imaging created the first total-body PET/CT, the uEXPLORER, in 2019, through the NIH-funded Explorer consortium between U.C. Davis, Yale University, and the University of Pennsylvania. The new uMI Panorama GS is the second such long-axial FOV PET/CT system from United Imaging. Abram Voorhees, PhD, Senior Director of Academic Alliances emphasizes the importance of this collaboration: “We are excited to support the vision at the Martinos Center and believe that this work will yield both a greater understanding of the body and new clinical applications for advanced whole-body PET/CT at MGB.” The uMI Panorama GS is planned to be operational in the summer of 2025.
ABOUT A. A. MARTINOS CENTER
The Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the world’s premier research centers devoted to the development and application of advanced biomedical imaging technologies. Our mission is to revolutionize imaging for the advancement of science and medicine by inspiring, educating, and informing. The Center is part of the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and affiliated with both Harvard Medical School and MIT. Our faculty are developing first-of-a-kind tools and applying them to solve challenges in neuroscience, oncology, cardiology and other clinical domains. Mass General conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States and is the oldest and largest teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. It is a founding member of the Mass General Brigham integrated health care system.
ABOUT MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM
Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.
ABOUT UNITED IMAGING
At United Imaging, we develop and produce advanced medical products, digital healthcare solutions, and intelligent solutions that cover the entire process of imaging diagnosis and treatment. Founded in 2011, our company has subsidiaries and R&D centers across the world. Our North American headquarters in Houston includes our corporate offices, factory, product showroom, service training center, and service parts distribution center. With a cutting-edge digital portfolio and a mission of Equal Healthcare for All™, we help drive industry progress and bold change.
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