title: Molecular Imaging in Synthetic Biology, and Synthetic Biology in Molecular Imaging.
abstract: Biomedical synthetic biology is an emerging field in which cells are engineered at the genetic level to carry out novel functions with relevance to biomedical and industrial applications. This approach promises new treatments, imaging tools, and diagnostics for diseases ranging from gastrointestinal inflammatory syndromes to cancer, diabetes, and neurodegeneration. As these cellular technologies undergo pre-clinical and clinical development, it is becoming essential to monitor their location and function in vivo, necessitating appropriate molecular imaging strategies, and therefore, we have created an interest group within the World Molecular Imaging Society focusing on synthetic biology and reporter gene technologies. Here, we highlight recent advances in biomedical synthetic biology, including bacterial therapy, immunotherapy, and regenerative medicine. We then discuss emerging molecular imaging approaches to facilitate in vivo applications, focusing on reporter genes for noninvasive modalities such as magnetic resonance, ultrasound, photoacoustic imaging, bioluminescence, and radionuclear imaging. Because reporter genes can be incorporated directly into engineered genetic circuits, they are particularly well suited to imaging synthetic biological constructs, and developing them provides opportunities for creative molecular and genetic engineering.
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. assaf.gilad@jhu.edu.|Cellular Imaging Section and Vascular Biology Program, Institute for Cell Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. assaf.gilad@jhu.edu.|F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA. assaf.gilad@jhu.edu.
authors.forename: Assaf A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Gilad
authors.affiliation: Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. mikhail@caltech.edu.|Heritage Medical Research Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA. mikhail@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: Mikhail G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Shapiro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D060846:Cell Engineering; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D057054:Molecular Imaging; D058615:Synthetic Biology
keywords: Imaging; Reporter genes; Synthetic biology