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Plenary Sessions
Monday, 17 May - Friday, 21 May 2004

Last updated 05 May 2009
Lauterbur Lecture: "From Immune Suppression to Mad Cow Disease - In Vitro NMR Spectroscopy with the Molecules of Life"
 Monday, 17 May, 08:20 - 09:00
Kurt Wüthrich, Eidgenössische Technische, Hochschule, Zurich, Switzerland.
Kurt Wüthrich was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002 for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution.  Through his work at the beginning of the 1980's, Kurt Wüthrich has made it possible to use NMR on proteins.  He developed a general method of systematically assigning certain fixed points in the protein molecule and also a principle for determining the distances between these.  Using the distances, he was able to calculate the three-dimensional structure of the protein.  The advantage of NMR is that proteins can be studied in solution, i.e., an environment similar to that in the living cell.  His work in NMR is also used in the pharmaceutical industry to determine the structure, and hence the properties, of proteins and other macromolecules that can be interesting target molecules for new pharmaceuticals.  Pharmaceutical molecules are designed to fit into the structure of the protein -- like a key in a lock.  Perhaps the most important industrial use of NMR is in the search for small potential pharmaceutical molecules that can interact with a given biological macromolecule.  If the small molecule binds to the large one, the NMR spectrum of the large molecule is normally changed.  This may be used to "screen" a large number of pharmaceutical candidates at an early stage in the development of a new drug.
MR Impact in Metabolomics and Proteomics
Monday, 17 May 2004, 09:00 - 10:15
Sebastian Cerdan, Ph.D., and Rolf Gruetter, Ph.D., Organizers
Educational Objectives:   At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:
Explain the concepts of metabolomics and proteomics, and their potential relevance in medicine;
 Describe the roles of metabolomics in tumor diagnosis, drug discovery and drug evaluation;
 Describe the role that MRI can and has played in the modern view of proteomic and metabolomics.

Program
09:00 From the Genome to the Metabolome by NMR Kevin Brindle, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England, UK
09:25 The Tumor Metabolome by 1H MRS: Implications for Medical Diagnosis John R. Griffiths, St. George's Hospital Medical School, London, England, UK
09:50 MR-based Metabonomic Approaches in Toxicology, Disease Diagnosis and Global Systems Biology Jeremy K. Nicholson, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine., London, England, UK
MRI Beyond Tissue Anatomy with Novel Contrast Agents
Tuesday, 18 May 2004, 08:15 - 09:30
Sebastian Cerdan, Ph.D., Organizer
Educational Objectives:  At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to:
Briefly describe the principles of contrast agent design, and the different approaches for imaging tissue pH, pO2 and other biochemical variables;
 Explain approaches for improved blood pool imaging and its applications in angiography and vascular research;
 Give examples of applications of stem cells in physiology and pathology and describe approaches for stem cell tracking by MRI.

Program
08:15 MRI of Biochemical Variables with Novel Contrast Agents A. Dean Sherry, University of Texas, Dallas, TX, USA
08:40 Improved Blood Pool Agents for High Resolution Angiography and Vascular Research Robert M. Weisskoff, EPIX Medical, Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA
09:05 Stem Cell Tracking in Physiology and Pathology Mathias Hoehn, Max Planck Institute for Meurological Research, Colognge, Germany
MR in Screening
Wednesday, 19 May 2004, 08:15 - 09:30
Ricardo Manfredi, M.D., James F.M. Meaney, M.D., and Neil M. Rofsky, M.D., Organizers
Educational Objectives:   Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
Compare the various screening tests, in the light of the current knowledge base (accuracy, cost, availability, etc.);
 List areas where MRI is likely to be superior to other competing modalities;
 Describe the potential of MRI for screening, specifically in cardiovascular disease and cancer;
 Discuss the challenges screening poses to the MRI community.

Program
08:15 Disease Screening in the 21st Century: Is is Viable and What are the Tools? Bruce J. Hillman, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville, VA, USA
08:40 MR Screening in Cardiovascular Disease Zahi A. Fayad, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
09:05 Screening for Breast Cancer with Conventional Imaging and MRI Christiane K. Kuhl, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
Inaugural Sir Peter Mansfield Lecture: "Fast Forward - Horizons in Rapid Imaging"
Thursday, 20 May 2004, 08:15 - 08:45
 Robert R. Edelman, M.D., Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, Evanston, IL, USA
 
The Current and Future Role of Imaging in Cancer Therapy Assessment
Thursday, 20 May 2004, 08:15 - 09:30
Kim Butts, Ph.D., and Jeffrey L. Duerk, Ph.D., Organizers
Educational Objectives:   Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
Describe several areas in which clinical oncologists could effectively use non-invasive assessment of cancer therapy;
 List the ways in which MR is currently used in assessing cancer therapy (either efficacy, progression, side-effects, prognosis, etc.);
 Assess the future directions of novel techniques and agents that will be developed by, or available to, the MR community to assess cancer therapy.

Program
08:45 The Role of Imaging in the Assessment of Cancer Treatment Anthony F. Shields, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
09:10 Current Concepts in MR Based Therapy Assessment Michael V. Knopp, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
09:35 Molecular Imaging in Cancer Therapies of the Future Chrit T. Moonen, Université Victor Segalen, Bordeaux, France

Extending the Limits of MRI: New Concepts for Signal Detection and Enhancement
Friday, 21 May 2004, 08:15 - 09:30
Michael B. Smith, Ph.D., Daniel K. Sodickson, M.D., Ph.D., and Scott D. Swanson, Ph.D., Organizers
Educational Objectives:  Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
Identify new methods of detecting small signals in NMR and appreciate why different technologies are required for different spatial scales;
 Describe current and new uses of laser polarized noble gases;
 Evaluate recent research into new polarization-enhanced contrast agents created with Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) or ParaHydrogen-Induced Polarization (PHIP), and identify their potential impact for direct imaging of enhanced molecules;
 Appreciate how fundamental NMR research translates into future clinical procedures and creates new windows into the molecular world of man.

Program
08:15 Signal Detection in NMR: Macroscopic, Microscopic and Nanoscale James Tropp, GE Medical Systems, Fremont, CA, USA
08:40 "Lighting Up" NMR and MRI Alexander Pines, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
09:05 Beyond Relaxation Contrast: Agents for Polarization Enhancement in MR Imaging J. Stefan Petersson, Amersham Health, Malmo, Sweden

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