MLSC Grants
MLSC Women's Health Grants
Congratulations Radiology Faculty Researchers Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD, MPH, and Mary Rusckowski, PhD, are among the investigators for 11 projects that have received a total of $8.3 million in capital funding awards from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC). Dr. Vijayaraghavan and Dr. Rusckowski, associate professors of radiology, are collaborating with UMass Lowell and industry partners to advance breast cancer imaging technology with Women’s Health Capital Call grants.
Gopal Vijayaraghavan, MD will conduct the project “Improving Breast Cancer Diagnosis Using Artificial Intelligence in Mammography Screenings” along with industry partner DeepHealth, Inc.
Mary Rusckowski, PhD will investigate “Breast Cancer Detection Empowered by Contrast Agents, Spectral CT, and Machine Learning” with Manos Gkikas, PhD, assistant professor of chemistry at UMass Lowell, and industry partner industry partner MARS Bioimaging Ltd.
MLSC Capital Program Grant
Mary Rusckowski, PhD director of the Small Animal Imaging Core (RLASTIC), was awarded a grant of $1,370,315 by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MSLC) for a for a PET/SPECT/CT-ultra-high-resolution small animal imaging camera, the VECTor6CTUHR from MILabs.
The PET/SPECT/CT will be located in a newly renovated suite within the A level Animal Facility shared with a newly acquired 7T MRI. The camera is scheduled to arrive mid-December! It will be operated by the Small Animal Imaging Core (RLASTIC) and administratively managed by the Office of Research, Core Administration.
The effort to establish the PET/SPECT/CT Center was led by, Mike King, PhD, Professor and Vice-Chair for Research Department of Radiology; Matt Gounis, PhD, Professor and Associate Vice-Chair for Research Department of Radiology, Director of the New England Center for Stroke Research (NECStR), and of Scientific Affairs for the Advanced MRI Center (AMRIC); and Mary Rusckowski, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of the Small Animal Imaging (RLASTIC) and Optical Imaging Cores.
The PET/SPECT/CT for imaging in small animals has a broad range of energy detectors that extends the selection of isotopes for investigation, permits simultaneous multi-isotope PET imaging, as well as sub-mm imaging of higher energy theranostic isotopes. The CT subsystems are low dose, providing multiple levels of resolution. Additional components include automated quantitative EXIRAD 3D autoradiography; X-Ray digital fluoroscopy for U-CT; and a click-over bed adapter for 7T MRI dual modality imaging.