ENCITE hands-on workshop “Cell tracking with MRI“ The method of choice for preclinical investigations of revealing cell dynamics in vivo

Within the framework of the European Network for Cell Imaging and Tracking Expertise (ENCITE) the In-vivo-NMR laboratory at the Max-Planck-Institute for Neurological Research invited to a 3-day workshop on November 7-9, 2012, supported by the companies Miltenyi Biotec, Viscover and Medres. The workshop was dedicated to elucidate the techniques and methods necessary for MRI based cell tracking.

MRI cell tracking, the major hallmark of ENCITE, is the method of choice for preclinical investigations of revealing cell dynamics in vivo in an intact organ or animal. In total, nine participants from Germany, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Slovenia and Iran followed the invitation and listened to scientific background talks followed by intense hands-on sessions. Together with local staff members, the invited speakers (Uwe Himmelreich, University of Leuven/BE and Aneta Keliris, Max Planck Institute for Cybernetics, Tübingen/DE) shared their expertise in contrast agent development and application for cell (-specific) MRI.

According to the participants’ feedback, the programme successfully bridged theory to experimental needs in order to conduct a cell tracking experiment. All necessary steps starting from the cell labelling and in vitro cell characterisation, through the cell transplantation and finally the in vivo MRI were covered in this workshop. Although none of the attendees was actively involved in the ENCITE project work or trained in MRI based cell tracking, everybody contributed to a fruitful and particularly interactive workshop.

During the discussions, the lack of a commercially available and clinically approved MRI contrast agent turned out to be the major limitation for the majority of participants with an interest in clinical translation. Being a very successful training event, Markus Aswendt and Mathias Hoehn are looking forward to extending such workshops beyond the end of the ENCITE Multi Centre Cluster. This way, the novel cell tracking knowledge acquired within ENCITE could be communicated to a broad audience.

Details on the latest news: http://www.encite.org/cms/website.php

For further information on the project please contact:
European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), Project Coordination
Neutorgasse 9, 1010 Vienna (AT)
Phone: [phone] / [e-mail] / www.eibir.org www.encite.org

Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Gabriel P. Krestin, ERASMUS MC, [e-mail]
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Keywords

• Cell Imaging
• MRI
• Radiology

Countries

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom