Imaging in biomedical research : Mini-symposium of the division for medicinal chemistry (DMC) of the Swiss chemical society (SCS), at the Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, May 18, 2006

Imaging technologies have experienced rapid progress and are currently used widely both in medical diagnostics and in research. Imaging beyond X-ray and standard MRI became established in recent years. The extended set of imaging methodologies available allows methods to be selected according to the actual needs or even the combination of different imaging principles to obtain further improved read-outs. The symposium consisted of four overview lectures. Three speakers from academia and one speaker from industry described different techniques, recent developments and future needs from various perspectives in the lectures entitled: Non-Invasive Imaging in Biomedical Research: Annotating Structure with Molecular Information; Molecular Imaging with PET Tracers and Animal PET Scanners; Nuclear (PET- and SPECT-) Imaging Agents from Research to Approval (Perspectives from a Pharma Company Working on in vivo Diagnostics); Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Imaging.