The map below shows the geographical locations of the four network centers and the ways in which they are linked together. Both the Stanford Center and the University of Michigan Center are doing research in the gastrointestinal tract. Optical molecular probes are a main focus of both centers, and confocal imaging is being used. However, the Stanford team is pairing the optical technologies with miniaturized ultrasound to augment their imaging capabilities, while the University of Michigan center is using nuclear imaging as a way to validate the optical imaging results.
The University of Texas Health Science Center and Washington University are each studying identification and staging of breast sentinel lymph nodes. The Washington University center has chosen to bring ultrasound imaging together with the optical method of photoacoustic imaging, and the University of Texas Health Science Center is uniting optical fluorescence method with nuclear imaging.
The result is an exciting linkage of organ sites and imaging technologies that is yielding a high degree of cooperation and coordination within the network. While two sites are focused on the GI tract and the other two are focused on breast lymph nodes, there is a cross-over in the imaging methods used. In two sites, ultrasound is being paired with optical methods, while in the other two sites nuclear techniques are paired with the optical methods.
At the base of the network organization is the Research Support Cores. These functions link the four centers by providing advances and decision-making common to all four centers. Click here to read about the Research Support Cores.