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On February 16, 2021, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine announced the launch of the Alba Tull Center for Neuro Imaging and Therapeutics.
The University of Pittsburgh Department of Neurosurgery is the biggest neurosurgical academic provider in the United States. Clinicians there perform over 12,000 procedures annually. The Tull Family Foundation provided a $1 million grant for the university’s new imaging center, which aims to explore new ways to apply augmented reality (AR) to surgery and train physician-scientists in the uses of imaging technology. Additionally, it will seek to design and expand imaging technologies to improve understanding of the brain and anti-aging therapeutics.
The center will emphasize interdisciplinary projects regarding the practical application of neuroimaging technology. Among such projects are the development of radiomics, a single, noninvasive scan that integrates patient records and predicts responses to therapies. This can potentially guide a patient’s course of treatment and enable clinicians to better visualize brain fiber connections. The center will “advance our work in neuro AR, chemistry, and personalized medicine, keeping us at the forefront of patient care and research breakthroughs,” according to Robert Friedlander, MD and codirector of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Neurological Institute.
“The past year, more than ever, has underscored the power medicine has to change the world and the future,” stated Alba Tull. “[T]his new center will enable scientific innovations from allowing physicians to examine a patient’s brain without making an incision to guiding surgeons’ hands in real-time when invasive treatment is the only option.”
Reference
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine launches neurological imaging and therapeutics center [press release]. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Office of University Communications; February 16, 2021. https://www.pittwire.pitt.edu/news/university-pittsburgh-school-medicine-launches-neurological-imaging-and-therapeutics-center.
