WINNIPEG, MANITOBA (PRWEB) APRIL 27, 2016 -- A compact PET scanner called NuPET™ has been commercially released for simultaneous preclinical PET (Positron Emission Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) in existing third-party MRI systems. PET and MRI are complementary imaging methods for better understanding disease and testing novel treatments in small animal subjects. Simultaneous PET/MRI imaging offers a solution to many challenges that face researchers who wish to correlate biochemical and physiological changes in their subjects.
Cubresa Inc., a medical imaging company that develops and markets molecular imaging systems, today announced the release of its NuPET™ scanner and that systems have already been shipped and installed.
“Simultaneous PET/MRI lets us discover new relationships between functional and molecular processes during development of new drugs and disease diagnostics,” says Dr. Steven Beyea, scientific lead for BIOTIC (Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre) at the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre in Canada. “An example is that with our NuPET™ system, we can now correlate metabolic and vascular changes due to cancer, which will enable us to understand the impact of novel therapeutics.”
Scientists can currently scan their subjects on two separate PET and MRI machines. However, significant challenges such as image registration, changing animal physiology and data obtained at different times can hamper breakthroughs.
“The NuPET™ system will provide scientists with the ability to monitor structural, functional and molecular changes under identical physiological conditions, since changes are observed at the same time,” says George Abe, CEO of Cubresa. “This gives scientists confidence when evaluating multi-modal data, and could potentially reduce the number of animals required to reach scientific conclusions.”
Cubresa will be showcasing the NuPET scanner in Booth 519 at the 24th Annual Meeting of the ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine) in Singapore May 7—13, 2016.
About Cubresa Inc.
Cubresa is a medical imaging company that develops and markets nuclear imaging systems that enable researchers at leading universities, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to non-invasively visualize and measure biochemical processes at the molecular level. Applications for Cubresa’s products include preclinical drug development, disease research in oncology, neurology, and cardiology, as well as clinical diagnostics. Cubresa has operations in Boston, Massachusetts and Winnipeg, Manitoba. Visit http://www.cubresa.com for more information.
About Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre and the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre
The IWK Health Centre is the Maritime region's leading health care and research centre dedicated to the well-being of women, children, youth and families. In addition to providing highly specialized and complex care, the IWK provides certain primary care services and is a strong advocate for the health of families. The IWK is a global leader in research and knowledge sharing, and a partner in educating the next generation of health professionals. As part of the IWK Health Centre, the Biomedical Translational Imaging Centre (BIOTIC) has an explicit mandate to translate medical science innovations with industry partners using clinical and preclinical imaging tools to produce next-generation healthcare advances. Visit http://www.iwk.nshealth.ca for more information.