The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research & SINAPSE Sign Cooperation Agreement

The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research and Carestream Molecular Imaging have signed a 5-year partnership agreement to support the development of novel preclinical imaging approaches in oncology using the Carestream Albira trimodal imaging system. The Albira was purchased by the Beatson Institute with support from funds raised by researchers in SINAPSE, a medical imaging consortium involving six premier Scottish Universities. The Albira combines PET, SPECT, and CT modalities in one platform, which provides the Beatson Institute with imaging technologies to support their research into cancer cell behavior and the development of new therapeutic, diagnostic, and prognostic tools. Research at the Beatson Institute relies heavily on the use of advanced technologies, including sophisticated transgenic cancer models and advanced imaging technologies housed within the Beatson Advanced Imaging Resource (BAIR). The BAIR is a world-leading center for preclinical fluorescence molecular imaging.

With the addition of PET, SPECT, and CT capabilities and the expertise developed by SINAPSE, the BAIR will now provide PET, SPECT, and CT imaging for a variety of research groups within the Beatson Institute, the West of Scotland Cancer Center, and other collaborators. The immediate use of the Albira will be to support oncology studies centered on understanding the genetic basis of pancreatic, colon, breast, and skin cancers and their response to treatment. The Albira system provides a 3D quantitative capability to study biological processes at the tissue and cellular level and will be used in a wide variety of research studies.

Prof. Kurt Anderson, PhD, Research Professor and BAIR Director, says “the combination of PET, SPECT, and CT technologies in one instrument provides investigators at our institutions the flexibility to support research programs across many areas of cancer research such as biomarker, theragnostics, and drug development. Use of these techniques will foster greater collaboration among researchers and help us build closer ties with our clinical imaging colleagues at the West of Scotland PET center.”

The Albira system features a unique modular architecture that introduces an exclusive, patented single crystal detector and associated electronics for rapid acquisition and reconstruction of highly resolved quantitative PET and SPECT images. This approach contrasts with the pixelated crystal technology used in most current PET and SPECT systems today.

Dr. Anderson was also pleased with the ease of use of Albira software in the acquisition, reconstruction, and analysis of images. “The workflow and interface of the software has clearly been designed with the end user researcher in mind. The complete imaging process is intuitive from the beginning whether you are acquiring a simple PET image or co-registering between PET, SPECT, or CT imaging modalities.”