SFB 656:  Molecular Cardiovascular Imaging (MoBil) - From Mouse to Man

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Biology ; Chemistry ; Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Mathematics
• Term: from 2005 to 2017
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 12467772

The Collaborative Research Centre has been installed at the University of Münster, Germany, and its topic, cardiovascular molecular imaging, will join forces from medical and natural sciences.
Developing the innovative field of molecular imaging depends on successfully bridging the gap between basic sciences and clinical applications. Within the Collaborative Research Centre, scientists and clinicians from the faculties of chemistry and pharmacy, mathematics and computer science, and medicine will work on interdisciplinary projects. These projects focus on the development and preclinical / clinical evaluation of new disease-relevant target-affine imaging probes, such as radiopharmaceutical or fluorescent probes, and on imaging methods including image generation, quantification and analysis.
Molecular imaging targets are identified from current challenges in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. An especially topical example is identifying vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques non-invasively; predicting plaque stability and the risk of plaque rupture in individual patients will identify those who will benefit most from invasive therapies.
For each cardiovascular disease, the Collaborative Research Centre aims to cover a spectrum from molecular pathophysiology, through specific target-affine pharmaceuticals and their labelled analogues, disease-relevant animal models and both preclinical and clinical imaging technology to clinical application in patients.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Kombinierte molekular-funktionelle Bildgebung der endothelialen Dysfunktion in vivo (Project Heads Levkau, Bodo ;  Schober, Otmar ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• A02 - Inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) for imaging MMP activity in vivo (Project Heads Bremer, Christoph ;  Kopka, Klaus ;  Wagner, Stefan ;  Wünsch, Bernhard )
• A03 - Specific imaging of activated caspases in apoptosis (Project Heads Kopka, Klaus ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• A04 - Target-specific and Activatable Fluorescent Probes (Project Heads Bremer, Christoph ;  Hahnenkamp, Anke ;  Höltke, Carsten ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• A05 - Autonome Innervation des Herzens (Project Heads Kirchhof, Paulus ;  Law, Ph.D., Marilyn ;  Riemann, Burkhard )
• A06 - Sphingolipid receptor imaging in cardiovascular diseases (Project Heads Haufe, Günter ;  Levkau, Bodo ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• A08 - Molecular imaging of sodium channels in the heart - from models to patients (Project Heads Fabritz, Larissa ;  Haufe, Günter ;  Kirchhof, Paulus )
• A10 - Maltodextrin Transporter Based Imaging of Cardiovascular Bacterial Infections (Project Heads Faust, Andreas ;  Hermann, Sven ;  Löffler, Bettina )
• B01 - Selective Synthesis of Fluorinated Ligands and its 18F-Radiolabelling for PET (Project Heads Haufe, Günter ;  Hugenberg, Verena ;  Wagner, Stefan )
• B02 - PET reconstructions of thin structures and their validation (Project Heads Burger, Martin ;  Büther, Florian ;  Schäfers, Klaus ;  Wübbeling, Frank )
• B03 - Quantification in high-resolution dynamic PET-MR imaging for analysis of small structures (Project Heads Faber, Cornelius ;  Jiang, Xiaoyi ;  Law, Ph.D., Marilyn ;  Schäfers, Klaus )
• B06 - Development of a multimodal high-resolution small animal PET based on multi-wire proportional counters (Project Heads Schäfers, Klaus ;  Wessels, Johannes P. )
• B07 - Mathematical Modelling of Atherosclerotic Plaque Formation Based on Data from Multiparametric Imaging (Project Head Ohlberger, Mario )
• C01 - Hybrid Imaging of Cardiac Innervation in Inherited Organ Dysfunction (Project Heads Kies, Peter ;  Paul, Matthias ;  Schulze-Bahr, Eric ;  Stegger, Lars )
• C02 - Entwicklung und Validierung der kardialen PET-CT zur integrierten Beurteilung der Morphologie, funktionellen Relevanz und Progression der koronaren Arteriosklerose (Project Heads Fischbach, Roman ;  Schober, Otmar ;  Wichter, Thomas )
• C03 - Ultrasound-based molecular imaging (Project Heads Jiang, Xiaoyi ;  Stypmann, Jörg ;  Tiemann, Klaus )
• C06 - Multiparametric imaging of vascular pathologies (Project Heads Hermann, Sven ;  Levkau, Bodo ;  Schober, Otmar ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• C07 - Imaging of Transplant Vasculitis (Project Heads Reuter, Stefan ;  Schnöckel, Uta )
• C08 - Functional imaging of anti-vascular treatment strategies with soluble tissue factor (Project Heads Bremer, Christoph ;  Mesters, Rolf M. ;  Persigehl, Thorsten )
• C10 - Multiscale Optical Imaging in Murine Models of Atherosclerosis Using Ultramicroscopy and 2 Photon Microscopy (Project Heads Kiefer, Friedemann ;  Schäfers, Michael )
• C11 - Translational Imaging of Sympathetic Innervation in Atrial Fibrillation (Project Heads Eckardt, Lars ;  Lange, Philipp S. ;  Wenning, Christian )
• C12 - The Role of Circulating Monocytes in the Post-Ischaemic Myocardium (Project Heads Pardali, Evangelia ;  Stegger, Lars ;  Waltenberger, Johannes )
• Z01 - Interactive 3D-visualisation of multiparametric cardiovascular imaging data (Project Heads Hinrichs, Klaus H. ;  Ropinski, Timo )
• Z02 - Animal models (Project Head Kuhlmann, Michael )
• Z03 - General management, continued education and promoting Young Researchers (Project Head Schäfers, Michael )
• Z04 - Public Relations (Project Head Schober, Otmar )
• Z05 - Organic chemistry, radiopharmaceutical chemistry and in vitro screening (Project Heads Breyholz, Hans-Jörg ;  Kopka, Klaus ;  Riemann, Burkhard ;  Wagner, Stefan )
• Ö - Public Outreach (Project Heads Büther, Florian ;  Hinrichs, Klaus H. ;  Reuter, Stefan )

• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Biomedizin
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Michael Schäfers, since 11/2011