Australian National Total Body PET: Webinar series
Imaging to understand whole-body processes such as novel drug interactions during therapeutic development will soon be accessible through Australia’s first research-dedicated Total Body PET (TB-PET).
The Sydney Imaging Core Research Facility at The University of Sydney, in partnership with Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) and the National Imaging Facility (NIF), is establishing a Total Body PET facility in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at Royal North Shore Hospital.
TB-PET can be used to capture molecular processes from all organs simultaneously. The high-performance instrument can be used to study diseases that affect the entire body and build a better picture of complex processes such as ageing, metabolism, brain signalling and drug interactions.
Due to its exquisite sensitivity, it also has the potential to use much lower radiation doses compared to conventional PET scanners, making it safe to scan children, healthy volunteers, and to scan patients repeatedly to better understand disease progression and treatment effects.
TB-PET is accessible for research studies through Sydney Imaging Core Research Facility, the University of Sydney Node of the National Imaging Facility. For more information, contact Dr Georgios Angelis.
To mark the launch of the Australian National Total Body PET, Australia’s first research-dedicated Total Body PET, The University of Sydney is hosting a webinar series.
Watch recordings and register for future webinars below.
Opening remarks and welcome
Professor Fernando Calamante
Director of Sydney Imaging, The University of Sydney
Professor Simon Ringer
Pro-Vice Chancellor (Research Infrastructure), The University of Sydney
Keynote Session: The Total Body PET Revolution – Impacting Diagnostic Medicine and Medical Research
Distinguished Professor Simon Cherry
Biomedical Engineering Professor, University of California, Davis
Current and Emerging Applications Session: Total Body PET at Royal North Shore Hospital – First Impressions
Professor Paul Roach
Head of Nuclear Medicine, Royal North Shore Hospital
Current and Emerging Applications Session: Quadraphenia: NextGEN PET Imaging in the Clinic
Professor Dale Bailey
Principal Medical Physics Specialist, Royal North Shore Hospital
Current and Emerging Applications Session: What Can Total Body PET Do for Paediatrics?
Dr Kevin London
Medical Co-Head and Senior Staff Specialist, Westmead Hospital
Current and Emerging Applications Session: What Can Total Body PET Tell Us About Cardiovascular Disease?
Professor Gemma Figtree
Professor in Medicine, The University of Sydney
Current and Emerging Applications Session: Total Body Insights into Neurodegenerative Disease
Professor Matthew Kiernan
Bushell Chair of Neurology, The University of Sydney
Current and Emerging Applications Session: Drug Discovery and Total Body PET
Dr Eryn Werry
Senior Lecturer, The University of Sydney
Whole Body Physiology Session: Harnessing Individual Variability of Human Brain (And Body) Systems Across Health and Disease
Professor Andrew Zalesky
Professor in Psychiatry and Biomedical Engineering, Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne
Whole Body Physiology Session: Extreme Heat and Human Health with Climate Change
Professor Ollie Jay
Director, Heat and Health Research Incubator, The University of Sydney
Whole Body Physiology Session: Total Body PET: What Would George Do?
Professor Steven Meikle
Professor of Medical Imaging Physics, The University of Sydney
Closing Session: Future Opportunities for Total Body PET in Research and Clinical Care
Professor Andrew Scott AM
La Trobe-ONJCRI Node Director, National Imaging Facility
Australian Radiopharmaceutical Trials network with A/Prof Roslyn Francis
A/Prof Roslyn Francis, University of Western Australia, provides an overview of the Australian Radiopharmaceutical Trials network (ARTnet) and the site credentialling program.
Scanner harmonisation with Dr Kathy Willowson
Dr Kathy Willowson, Senior Medical Physicist at Royal North Shore Hospital, gives a technical overview of scanner harmonisation strategies within ARTnet.
Harmonisation and standardisation with Dr Joyce van Sluis
Dr Joyce van Sluis, University Medical Center Groningen, will talk about the European experience towards harmonisation and standardisation of long axial FOV PET for multi-centre imaging studies.
The Australian Imaging Service with Dr Ryan Sullivan
Dr Ryan Sullivan from The University of Sydney will present an overview of the Australian Imaging Service and the storage solutions that will be available for research studies in the Total Body PET Facility.
Accessing Total Body PET data with Dr Tom Close
Dr Tom Close from The University of Sydney gives a practical demonstration on how users of the facility can access their Total Body PET data stored on the Australian Imaging Service.
Introducing the ENHANCE.PET framework with Professor Thomas Beyer
Professor Thomas Beyer talks about the open-source data analytics tools and pipelines that have been developed at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, to investigate multi-organ interactions and enable robust Total Body PET connectome studies.
Identifying systemic abnormalities with Total Body PET with Dr Tao Sun
Dr Tao Sun from the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences presents a recently proposed framework that applies network analysis principles on Total Body PET data to identify metabolic dysfunctions at the system level.
Total-Body PET Infection imaging of ICU patients and children with Prof Andor Glaudemans from the University of Groningen
Prof Glaudemans discusses the differences between scanning on a Total Body PET compared to other conventional systems, highlights some key opportunities that Total Body PET systems may offer in the future.
Findings of the first-in-human immunoPET imaging of COVID-19 convalescent patients using dynamic total-body PET and a CD8-targeted minibody with Dr Negar Omidvari from the University California, Davis
Why your research needs a radiotracer with Professor Michael Kassiou
Professor Michael Kassiou showcases the role of PET imaging in general, and Total Body PET in particular, in drug discovery. He discusses how Total Body PET can be used to identify novel targets for drug and radiopharmaceutical development and to assess their efficacy.
How do you select your radiotracer? with Dr Giancarlo Pascali
Dr Giancarlo Pascali provides an overview of the workflow for selecting the appropriate target, molecule, isotope, and experimental setup, highlighting the value of Total Body PET imaging.
Where can you get your radiotracer? with Dr John Doan
Dr John Doan describes the current and future NIF plans for radiochemistry support for the Australian National Total Body PET Facility. He also discusses the infrastructure requirements to produce a range of radiotracers and discuss where they can be sourced from.
Prof Fernando Calamante, Director, Sydney Imaging
Introduction to the new facility, the operational model and the available resources to all researchers across Australia.
Prof Steve Meikle, Head, Imaging Physics Laboratory at the Brain and Mind Centre
Overview of Total Body PET technology and how the new facility will fit within the existing clinical research imaging landscape.
Amanda Hammond, Molecular Imaging Product Manager at Siemens Healthcare
Overview of the technical specifications and capabilities of the new Biograph Vision Quadra Total Body PET system set to be installed.
