Guobao Wang, PhD, of University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Health has won a three-year, $628,000 grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIH/NIBIB) to support hybrid imaging research.
Under the Trailblazer R21 grant provided by NIH/NIBIB, Wang will develop reconstruction algorithms and test the feasibility of a hybrid spectral PET/CT imaging method that combines x-ray and y-ray data based on time-of-flight PET/CT scans.
"Successful development of this project will bring a new technical capability of PET/CT scanners for dual-energy or multi-energy spectral CT imaging," Wang said in a statement from UC Davis Health. "This is possible without changing scanner hardware or increasing radiation exposure to that of a standard clinical PET/CT scan."
Wang believes that the new multiparametric imaging technology would enable better characterization of several diseases, including cancer and heart disease. Before initiating a clinical imaging trial, Wang will first demonstrate his PET-enabled dual-energy method as a proof of concept using phantom validation and animal studies, according to UC Davis Health.
