2025 PET-RTRC Scientific Session Examines Brain-Body Interactions

Leading imaging experts and innovators from varied disciplines will discuss their work at this year’s PET-RTRC Scientific Session on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2024. If you’re interested in learning more or registering for the annual event, register online or email Michelle Hoelscher.

Scientific Session Topic: Brain-Body Interactions

Interrogating Brain/Heart Crosstalk by PET

Frank M. Bengel, MD, is a professor, director of the Department of Nuclear Medicine and dean of research at Hannover Medical School in Germany. Bengel develops novel tracer-based methods for visualizing molecular, cell- and gene-specific target mechanisms, with an emphasis on the cardiovascular and immune systems. His research also focuses on the translational noninvasive analysis of biologic systems and their physiologic and pathophysiologic importance, and on the use of molecular imaging to inform specific reparative interventions He received his medical degree from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. 

Imaging the Effects of Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy on Atherosclerotic CVD

Mandy van Leent, MD, PhD, is an assistant professor for the BioMedical Engineering and Imaging Institute (BMEII) and the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Van Leent’s research focuses on the implementation of molecular imaging to noninvasively study immune responses in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and beyond. She earned her medical degree and doctorate from the University of Amsterdam and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Willem Mulder, PhD, at Mount Sinai. 

Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia Using 11C-S1P1 PET/MR Imaging 

Hongyu An, PhD, is a professor of radiology and director of the Biomedical MR Center for WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR). An, who is also the associate director of MIR’s Center for Clinical Imaging Research, is renowned for her expertise in MR physics, pulse sequences and image reconstruction analysis. Her work led to the first validated MR approach to measure cerebral oxygen extraction fraction in humans. An received both her doctorate and master’s degree from WashU and a master’s degree from Academia Sinica in Beijing.

[11C]-CS1P1 PET in Multiple Sclerosis and the Effects of S1P-Modulators

Karl Friedrichsen, PhD, is a postdoctoral research scholar in MIR’s Neuroimaging Labs Research Center. As a TIRS T32 trainee under the mentorship of Tammie Benzinger, MD, PhD, and Matthew Brier, MD, PhD, Friedrichsen’s research focuses on measuring inflammation and treatment response in MS using novel PET radiotracer 11C-CS1P1. He aims to determine binding patterns of the tracer in patients with and without MS and support its use in other neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinson’s disease, ADRD, obesity and small vessel disease. He earned his doctorate from WashU.