Centers

Experimental Imaging

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Director

Carlo Tacchetti

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Deputy director

Antonio Esposito

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The Center scientific activity covers the main areas of biomedical research, including preclinical, translational and experimental clinical research. As a unifying trait, our research stems from bioimaging and is aimed at using a morphological approach to investigate relevant biomedical questions. Bioimaging techniques, together with advanced computation analysis, are changing the way in which biomedical research as well as diagnosis and therapy of several diseases are undertaken.

Organization

The Experimental Imaging  Centre is composed of 3 Basic Research Units, 5 Clinical Research Units and 4 Core Facilities, for a total of about 70 people.

The CIS provides infrastructures and primary support to the research activity of three Clinical Departments, including the Department of Radiology, the Department of Oncology and the Department of Head and Neck Diseases. Several members of the CIS are Faculty members of the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele.

Research

Modern bioimaging is based on a combination of techniques and experimental approaches aimed to the in vivo visualization of biological structures and to the study of their functions. Those technologies capitalize on a variety of biosensors able to detect different energy levels and of methods aimed to transduce that information in images.

The techniques used in Bioimaging are characterized by different resolution and magnifying power, by the possibility of obtaining 3D (in terms of space), and 4D (in terms of space and time) accurate reconstruction of biological events and by the ability of visualizing functional aspects. The combined use of different technological approaches makes possible to cover a wide range of resolution levels, from microscopic to nanoscopic.

Our aims:

  • Improving the field of bioimaging;
  • Doing research in biomedical fields using bioimaging techniques;
  • Helping other scientists to do their research by sharing a platform of bioimaging technologies and competences.

R&D programs

Among our research efforts, a special role is played by 4 R&D programs, whose main goal is developing cutting-edge technologies in the field of experimental imaging: