GR-CO

Description
The most versatile hyperpolarization technique to increase the sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is based on dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP). The main goal of the group is to develop hyperpolarization techniques for magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging in particular for biomedical applications.

The three main research axes of the group are the following:

Methodology in DNP, including DNP-related hardware developments, methods to increase the solid-state and the liquid-state nuclear spin polarization in molecules of interest, the design and implementation of new agents for hyperpolarizing biomolecules, and the conception and test of in vivo and in vitro protocols for biomedical applications.

Real-time uptake and metabolism, in particular in vivo studies in rodents using 13C- and 15N-labeled hyperpolarized biomolecules. Because metabolic fluxes are most often disrupted in pathological tissues, it is of great interest to be able to probe the biochemical transformations involved in the numerous metabolic reactions taking place in vivo. Experiments are performed on healthy animals and some diseases are studied in specific animal models, in particular in the area of oncology.

Molecular Imaging by MR imaging, a recent discipline combining molecular biology and in vivo imaging, aims at differentiating tissues based upon their metabolic and functional activity rather than structural and anatomic characteristics. Molecular imaging will greatly benefit from hyperpolarization techniques and experiments using long-T1 nuclear spins can provide essential information on the biodistribution, the uptake and the local environment of specific molecules.

This research is supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).