Conference Scope

In-vivo molecular imaging is going to encounter a spectacular development in the coming years as it will allow bridging between post-genomic research activities and new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for major diseases. In particular the molecular profiling of tumors and gene expression can lead to tailored therapies and therapeutic monitoring of cancer, degenerative and genetic diseases. Moreover, the repeatability of non-invasive approaches allows a more precise evaluation of drug targeting and pharmacokinetics studies on small animals, as well as an early screening and treatment follow-up of patients.

At the same time the impressive technological developments in several areas of applied physics, in particular to answer the challenge of a new generation of particle physics detectors and of the development of an information based society, open the way to a major breakthrough in the performance of presently available imaging tools .

There is, however, an important condition to this development. This is related to the need for a direct cooperation of actors with different scientific and cultural backgrounds like medicine, biology, solid-state physics, electronics, mathematics and software, from  public and industrial environment.

The time has come for all these actors to exchange ideas and together in a friendly place prepare the future of biomedical imaging:

What are the present needs? How are they likely to develop? What are the technical challenges? Which are the possibilities and conditions for technological breakthroughs? etc….

Therefore, we propose to organize a large international and multidisciplinary conference at the interface of medicine, biology, physics and industry, to regularly update our views on the future evolution of molecular imaging. The objective is to foster an approach as pragmatic and dynamic as possible, in order to adapt to possible changes of strategy resulting from technical progress and difficulties as well as from evolution of  bio-medical demand.