Department of Radiology

Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, Chair

The Department of Radiology’s mission is to: achieve national distinction in education, scholarship and public service; educate professionals in basic and clinical medical imaging sciences as well as allied medical professions; create and disseminate knowledge and technology; and provide solutions for improving health. Radiology has five divisions: Diagnostic Radiology (includes Interventional Radiology, Neuroradiology, Breast Imaging, Thoracic, Abdominal, Musculoskeletal, and Non- Vascular Interventional); Imaging Research; Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging; Radiobiology; and Regional Radiology. In 2002, Radiology had eight funded projects for a total of $1.2 million. By 2004, it had 23 projects totaling $18.7 million. The Department had obtained another $13.1 million in funded awards/projects by 2006. As one of The Ohio State University Medical Center’s Signature Programs, Imaging focuses on personalized health screening/appraisal, disease detection and characterization, imaging-based therapies and therapeutic response assessment.

Ongoing Research Programs

The Department’s technological advancements of 2006 impacted clinical care, the market and future opportunities. Being able to leverage research and training will strengthen global medical expertise. Here is a sampling of successes from the past year:

Biomedical Structural, Functional and Molecular Imaging Enterprise – In 2003, the state of Ohio awarded Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, a $9.1 million Third Frontier Grant and $8 million in Biomedical Research and Technology Transfer (BRTT) funding to create the Wright Center of Innovation (WCI) in Biomedical Imaging. The project (with funding through 2008) is also known as the Biomedical Structural, Functional and Molecular Imaging Enterprise at Ohio State. It is designed to advance biomedical imaging technology. In the spring of 2006, the state announced continued funding of nearly $8 million for three years to lay the foundation for the next level of hybrid positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging and imaging-based therapy.
Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) Core Lab – Radiology is in its fourth year as a core lab for the CALGB. The lab facilitates standardized data acquisition, data transmission, quality control, storage, post-processing and analysis for CALGB. It also implements post-processing algorithms as desired by the imaging committee and provides technical infrastructure to enable rapid transfer and storage of the studies. An additional submission for $1.4 million is under consideration. Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, is principal investigator.
Imaging Response Assessment Teams (IRAT) in Cancer Centers – A National Cancer Institute award of $738,813 for three years to Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center (OSUCCC), in conjunction with the Department of Radiology, supports development of imaging-assessment methods to reveal early biologic, noninvasive response to cancer treatment. This award, announced in 2005, is helping develop, implement and validate response-assessment imaging methodologies in the OSUCCC in collaboration with Radiology’s Division of Imaging Research, which includes the Wright Center of Innovation in Biomedical Imaging. Ohio State is one of eight cancer centers nationwide to receive this grant. Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, is principal investigator.
Core Lab for Imaging Post-Processing and Analysis – The Department continues to work with Novartis Pharmaceuticals as the imaging core lab and to collaborate in advanced imaging methodologies for clinical trials. Including Novartis, 22 clinical trials with total funding of about $1.2 million are under way within the Department.
Advancing Imaging Technology as a Credential Biomarker for Clinical Drug Development – This award from Pfizer, Inc. was announced at the end of 2006 with Michael Knopp, MD, PhD, as principal investigator. The project includes all aspects of imaging and drug development with a focus on establishing imaging surrogates and biomarkers for therapeutic response prediction and assessment.
Molecular-Level Research – Scientists in the Division of Radiobiology, which is directed by Altaf Wani, PhD, study molecular mechanisms of DNA damage and repair. The Division has more than $1.5 million in research funding. Projects include: examining genomic instability in cancer pathogenesis, with a focus on the regulation of DNA damage processing in the native environment of normal and cancerous cells, and on delineating mechanisms of cross-talk between molecular pathways that control cellular homeostasis; characterizing and quantifying, in human tissue and cell types, the mechanisms of chemopreventive agents, cancer therapy in combination with chemical and radiological agents, modulation of genes and proteins regulating cellular proliferation and apoptosis (cell death), and genetic damage repair; studying anticancer topoisomerase poisons, including analysis of potential new drugs, and proteomic analysis of post-translational modifications of topoisomerases associated with drug exposure and disruption of cancer-cell metabolism by anticancer drugs.