Dr. Daniel Stuckey
Pre-Clinical Imaging of The Heart; from embryo to adult - pathology and
regeneration
21st November, 1pm
ABSTRACT
Our understanding of physiology and pathology is largely influenced by our capacity to observe it
across multiple spatial and temporal scales. A integrated approach to molecular, functional and
structural biomedical imaging can link the study of biomolecular processes in vitro at the genetic
and cellular level, with the study of those same processes and their effects in the whole organism.
This requires imaging across scales, from visualisation and targeting of specific molecular
processes within a single cell, through to quantification of pathological events in the whole living
body. I will introduce the range of pre-clinical imaging techniques established within UCL’s Centre
for Advanced Biomedical Imaging and outline how these can be utilised to achieve this goal.
Techniques include MRI, PET/SPECT/CT, optical projection tomography, light sheet microscopy,
photoacoustic imaging and ultrasound. I will then discuss how these advanced imaging methods
can be used to image embryos, neonates and adult rodent pathology and therapy.
BIOSKETCH
Daniel leads pre-clinical cardiovascular imaging at UCL’s Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging
(CABI). His research focuses on developing and applying novel multi-modality imaging approached
for the investigation of cardiomyopathy and therapy. Using serial cardiac MRI, ultrasound and
SPECT/CT, Daniel non-invasively investigates the mechanisms that underlie cardiac disease and
result in heart failure. His specific area of interest is cardiac regeneration through stem cell
therapy – an emerging research field which can benefit enormously from translatable basic
science. His ongoing research into enhancement of stem cell homing, retention, viability and
differentiation, assessed in vivo using MRI, radionuclide, fluorescent and biolumenescent labelling
of donor cells, can provide data essential to current clinical trials of stem cells.
Prior to joining UCL in 2013, Daniel worked with Prof. Michael Schneider at Imperial College
London’s Biological Imaging Centre where he led preclinical cardiac imaging for the National Heart
and Lung Institute. Daniel studied for his DPhil at The University of Oxford in the Laboratory of
Prof. Kieran Clarke where he investigated imaging of stem cell therapy for the heart.