The Frontier of Imaging

Eric Ahrens, assistant professor of biological sciences, is taking magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to a new level. Working jointly with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center at the Mellon College of Science, Ahrens has developed novel MRI tools to visualize individual cells as they move throughout the body. Ahrens recently received a $1.32 million federal grant to use this technology for tracking immune cells inside animals to understand the role they play in autoimmune diseases such as type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis. This research should lead to better ways to develop cellular therapeutics and to visualize the movement of these therapeutics in patients.