4th Internatinal TPCF Preclinical Imaging Symposium

Abstract

Due to the huge costs and time spent for development of new drugs (around almost $ 1 billion (USD) and 12 Years), investing on the preclinical phase of drug development could be regarded as a great investment for de-risking the clinical phases. Preclinical studies are performed to obtain basic information about the safety, biological efficacy, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of a drug candidate before commencing clinical trials in human.

It is obvious that completing the preclinical phase requires great amounts of time and money, but with the use of advanced technologies such as preclinical imaging, preclinical studies have seen considerable progress. This happens owing to the ability of seeing in real time and in the same species majority of parameters required for the preclinical phase of drug development. There are several preclinical imaging devices that can be utilized. These devices include Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT), optical/fluorescence, Computed Tomography (CT), and ultrasound imaging. These technologies require advanced engineering and scientific skills in order to develop, use and optimize them.

This suggests that in order to have an enhanced preclinical imaging infrastructure, we would require an advanced multidisciplinary collaboration and network between engineering and sciences. In order to accelerate this, we at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) Preclinical Core Facility (TPCF) hold international symposium annually on preclinical imaging (all of the modalities) and their applications in various disciplines branded as TPIS (TPCF Preclinical Imaging Symposium). Back in summer 2021, we held our 4th annual symposium and it was on online platform due to Covid-19 pandemic. Numerous presenters from various top centers around the world have joined our platform as speakers, from various disciplines of science and engineering. Centers such as, Weill Cornell Medical College, Duke University, Stanford University, Melbourne University, and ….

We are pleased that Frontiers in Biomedical Technology (FBT) is publishing these abstracts in their journal. We at TPCF are also inviting the readers of FBT to attend our 5th annual TPIS (for more information visit our website on: www.TPCF.ir).