Molecular Imaging Technology

'Molecular Imaging Technology' focuses on image-based techniques using nanoscale molecules as sensor probes to measure spatial variations of various species (molecular oxygen, singlet oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitric monoxide, etc) and physical properties (pressure, temperature, skin friction, velocity, mechanical stress, etc). This special feature, starting on page 1237, contains selected papers from The International Workshop on Molecular Imaging for Interdisciplinary Research, sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in Japan, which was held at the Sendai Mediatheque, Sendai, Japan, on 8–9 November 2004. The workshop was held as a sequel to the MOSAIC International Workshop that was held in Tokyo in 2003, to summarize the outcome of the 'MOSAIC Project', a five-year interdisciplinary project supported by Techno-Infrastructure Program, the Special Coordination Fund for Promotion of Science Technology to develop molecular sensor technology for aero-thermodynamic research. The workshop focused on molecular imaging technology and its applications to interdisciplinary research areas. More than 110 people attended this workshop from various research fields such as aerospace engineering, automotive engineering, radiotechnology, fluid dynamics, bio-science/engineering and medical engineering. The purpose of this workshop is to stimulate intermixing of these interdisciplinary fields for further development of molecular sensor and imaging technology. It is our pleasure to publish the seven papers selected from our workshop as a special feature in Measurement and Science Technology. We will be happy if this issue inspires people to explore the future direction of molecular imaging technology for interdisciplinary research.