title: Molecular imaging and the unification of multilevel mechanisms and data in medical physics.
abstract: Molecular imaging (MI) constitutes a recently developed approach of imaging, where modalities and agents have been reinvented and used in novel combinations in order to expose and measure biologic processes occurring at molecular and cellular levels. It is an approach that bridges the gap between modalities acquiring data from high (e.g., computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron-emitting isotopes) and low (e.g., PCR, microarrays) levels of a biological organization. While data integration methodologies will lead to improved diagnostic and prognostic performance, interdisciplinary collaboration, triggered by MI, will result in a better perception of the underlying biological mechanisms. Toward the development of a unifying theory describing these mechanisms, medical physicists can formulate new hypotheses, provide the physical constraints bounding them, and consequently design appropriate experiments. Their new scientific and working environment calls for interventions in their syllabi to educate scientists with enhanced capabilities for holistic views and synthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Rion, Greece. gnikif@med.upatras.gr
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Nikiforidis
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Sakellaropoulos
authors.forename: George C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Kagadis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D005819:Genetic Markers; D023281:Genomics / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D006283:Health Physics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D008967:Molecular Biology / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D009686:Nuclear Physics / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D013223:Statistics as Topic
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers