Molecular Imaging: A Cornerstone of the NIH "New Pathways to Discovery"
In an effort to speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to bedside, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has undertaken a series of initiatives known as the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. Molecular imaging is central to a number of the NIH initiatives.1
- One of the NIH efforts is to expand the availability of molecular probes – that is, organic chemicals that can seek out and attach to specific cells to identify disease or correct it.2 Molecular imaging can identify the presence and location of these probes in the body and, depending on their characteristics, determine whether the cells they attach to are healthy or diseased. NIH will develop a central repository of such probes that can be used for a wide range of diseases and biological functions. Ultimately, physicians could use sophisticated molecular imaging systems to track probes for use in developing personalized profiles of cell and tissue function for each patient. This would lead to more individualized approaches to diagnosis and therapy.
- A second program, the NIH Roadmap's structural biology initiative, seeks to create a gallery of molecular images that illustrate the varying shapes of different proteins, which have a unique three-dimensional shape related to their function in the body. Misshapen proteins are the culprits behind many diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and cystic fibrosis. With the use of two imaging technologies, X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, researchers can better identify the role of protein shape in health and disease.3
These major undertakings build on the impressive contributions of the NIH to molecular imaging, particularly in the late 1990s. Research on imaging agents and biochemical testing techniques stemming from the NIH's network of dedicated molecular imaging laboratories is helping to reduce the amount of time needed to guide new therapies to practical use. This is good news for patients, as researchers estimate therapies that previously took up to 15 years to develop will now be ready in five to seven years.
1 "NIH Roadmap: Accelerating Medical Discovery to Improve Health," National Institutes of Health, at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/, accessed January 12, 2004.
2 "The NIH Roadmap: Molecular Libraries and Molecular Imaging," National Institutes of Health, at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/, accessed January 20, 2004.
3 Ibid., "Structural Biology."
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