OnconanoBBB

TEIA is represented in this project by the Department of Medical Instruments Technology and Medical Instrumentation Laboratory, led by Assistant Professor George Loudos. The Department of Medical Instruments Technology (MIT) belongs to the Faculty of Technological Applications and was established in 1985 and is the only academic institution providing undergraduate education in the field of biomedical engineering in Greece. The field of studies of MIT is the theory and technological applications of biomedical technology. Today MIT has 916 active students, 13 persons as permanent educational staff, 3 adjunct lecturers, 21 adjunct laboratory instructors, 4 specialized technicians and 2 secretaries. MIT focuses on medical instrumentation technologies, including embedded processor, data acquisition software implementation and dedicated imaging systems for small animal Imaging and scintimammography. MIT is affiliated with foreign and national radiopharmaceutical laboratories and supports/carries out imaging studies in order to evaluate the performance of novel radiopharmaceuticals, as well as image other biological processes.
The Medical Instrumentation Laboratory is activated in the field of small animal imaging systems development and their applications in preclinical molecular imaging studies with emphasis in nanomedicine. The group is working on building dedicated cameras, improving signal readout, programming of FPGAs, as well as studying detectors suitable for performance in magnetic field for PET/MRI imaging. Additional research work includes Monte Carlo simulations for optimization of imaging systems, as well as reconstruction algorithms and acquisition protocols. Besides OnconanoBBB project, Prof. Loudos chairs the COST Action “TD1007: Bimodal PET-MRI molecular imaging technologies and applications for in vivo monitoring of disease and biological processes”. In addition he actively participates in the COST Action “TD1004: Theranostics Imaging and Therapy: An Action To Develop Novel Nanosized Systems For Imaging-Guided Drug Delivery”, as a Working Group Leader for Imaging Protocols. The group has participated in NANOTHER FP7 project, which aimed to develop new nanoparticle systems for diagnosis and therapy. The role of the group has been on labelling nanoparticle systems with Tc-99 and carry out in vivo dynamic studies, to image nanoparticles concentration in the tumor and/or other organs.
The group has four PostDoctoral researchers, 6 PhD students, 5 students that carry out their master and diploma theses and a project manager. The group has access to unique instrumentation including i) a tomographic SPECT system with 1.5mm spatial resolution, ii) a pinhole system with resolution better than 1mm and a dual head PET prototype with resolution ~2.5mm.
This research team is comprised of experienced researchers including Dr. Eirini Frangogeorgi (Radiochemist), Ms Maria Georgiou (Electrical Engineer), Mr. Eleftherios Fisikopoulos (Electrical Engineer) who are working on the radiolabeling of the nanocarriers, as well as on aspects related to camera development and optimization and small animal studies and data processing, quantification and visualization. Researchers that are seconded are supported by other group scientists and technical staff.