Hands-on molecular imaging: real-time visualization tools bridge gaps in translational medicine.

Molecular imaging tools such as CT, MRI, PET and SPECT, as well as various combinations of these instrument systems, continue to improve and evolve, offering increasingly sensitive and high-resolution images of biological processes in real time. The optimal use of these tools across the continuum of biomedical research and clinical medicine can generate the information that is needed to bridge the gaps that currently exist in drug discovery and development. These gaps negatively affect the promise and potential of translational medicine, in which the knowledge gained from multidisciplinary efforts encompassing genomics, proteomics, biomarker discovery, systems biology and bioinformatics are used to drive R&D, design experiments, predict outcomes, guide patient selection for clinical trials, and define pharmacogenomic parameters for optimizing the safety and efficacy of drug compounds. Thus, molecular imaging tools serve an important role in optimizing the drug discovery and development process.