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Biomedical Physics Program

Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear Medicine involves the use of radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose and treat diseases. Nuclear Medicine Imaging is unique because it provides physicians with information about both structure and biological changes. These studies have several applications in neurology, cardiology, oncology, etc. The Society of Nuclear Medicine estimates 16 million nuclear medicine imaging and therapeutic procedures are performed each year in the US.

Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) is one such imaging modality in nuclear medicine that has delivered the promise of revealing the presence and mechanism of diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and brain disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.

UCLA Molecular Imaging UCLA Molecular Imaging UCLA Molecular Imaging [images courtesy: Dr. Jorge Barrio, UCLA]

 

The use of a microPET scanner for high resolution images of small lab animals helps in biomedical research applications modeling diseases.