Profilo in inglese della Fondazione H San Raffaele
The Scientific Institute San Raffaele (HSR-U) and the Vita-Salute University represent reference
centres in the field of Neuroscience, Neurology and Neuroimaging in Italy.
The HSR-U owns a large number of facilities devoted to the in vivo study of the brain functions in
normal subjects and in neurological and psychiatric patients: 1. Radiochemistry laboratory for the
development of novel radioligands for positron emission tomography studies of neurochemical
processes. 2. Psychology laboratory for the development and testing of cognitive paradigms for
testing neurologic patients and for functional imaging experiments. 3. A cyclotron (IBA Cyclone
18/9) and one SPECT scan and two modern PET scanners for brain functional emission
tomography studies (GE-Advance PET with 3D scanning capabilities and STE). The cyclotron
allows the routine production of 11 PET ligands for studies of brain metabolism, brain activation
and neurotransmission.. 4. A 3T MRI scanner (Philips) devoted entirely to research. 5) Networks
of computers connected with all the hospital dpts and with the Internet and Workstations dedicated
to data analysis and imaging post processing.
The dedicated scientific personnel of HSR-U includes multidisciplinary groups of experts in
radiochemistry, computing sciences, PET and MRI physics and engeneering, psychology,
neuropsychology, neurology, psychiatry, and psychopharmacology,
This infrastructure can offer the opportunity of an articulated research plan starting from
behavioural observations in humans, to in vivo measurements of brain neurochemical processes.
All this can be at one research site with the possibility of gaining access to patient population, after
appropriate ethical approval. The HSR-U is well known for previous neuropsychological,
neurological and psychiatric studies using metabolic measurements of brain activity in various
neurological and psychiatric disorders and syndromes. The radiochemistry group in the centre has
a long lasting experience and a well-known profile in tracer production and development. The
Departments of Neurology and Neuropsychiatric Sciences, are part of the HSR-U, and have
appointment with the University Vita-Salute. Both clinical and laboratories facilities are highly
implemented within the Departments. The clinical section comprises approximately 100
neurological beds and 80 psychiatric beds, Outpatients Unit (approx. 50 000 visits per year) for the
follow-up of the patients discharged from Departments.
The specific activities of the HSR-U are multidisciplinary researches that offer an integrated
approach between basic research, behavioral techniques and in vivo measurements of brain
structure and function and brain neurochemical processes using advanced SPET-CT, PET-CT,
MRI, fMRI. The Nuclear Medicine Department has a long lasting experience and specific interest in
functional studies of neurodegenerative conditions with large and established experience in
multicenter clinical and neuroimaging research studies. Among these the European projects
Network for Efficiency and Standardisation of Dementia Diagnosis(NEST-DD) and Diagnostic
Molecular Imagaing (DIMI Network of Excellence). Given the collaboration with the Departments of
Neurology and Psychiatry, the Division of Neuroscience and with the Faculty of Psychological
Sciences, these techniques are applied in large samples of ad hoc patient populations.
BASIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INFRASTRUCTURE
The infrastructure proposed comprises the Centro Ciclotrone/PET and the Nuclear Medicine
Department at the Scientific Institute San Raffaele as the main diagnostic and research resource.
The infrastructure is completed by the MRI facilities in the Neuroradiology Department of the
Scientific Institute San Raffaele All these facilities can be considered part of the same
infrastructure because of the spatial contiguity, because they are connected electronically,
because the scientific staff gaining access to the resources is the same for all structures. The
cyclotrons allows the routine production a wide range of PET ligands (up to 28 radiotracers,
including the tracers for research purposes), labelled either with
11
C,
18
F,
15
O for metabolic or
pharmacological studies and for activation studies. The neurochemical systems that can be studied
in our lab include serotonergic system (5-HT2A, 5-HT1A, 5HT re-uptake), dopaminergic system (reuptake sites, D1, D2 and D4 receptors), benzodiazepine receptors and others.
The permanent staff involved includes scientists from different areas of research, covering a wide
scientific background: the applicant, Prof. Daniela Perani is a neurologist, neuropsychologists and
neuroradiologist with long lasting experience in PET, SPECT, MRI and and fMRI clinical and
experimental research. Dr. Paola Vai and Dr. Andrea Panzacchi are nuclear medicine physicians
with expertise in PET and SPECT brain studies, Dr. Elena Andreolli is a radiochemist with
experience in radiotracers synthesis and production.
Prof. Maria Carla Gilardi and Dr. Valentino Bettinardi,
physicists, Dr. Paola Scifo and Dr.
Giovanna Rizzo, engeneers, Dr. Sergio Todde , Dr. Mario Matarrese, Dr. Maria Grazia Minotti and
Dr. Franco Perugini radiochemists. The technical staff directly involved in operating the
infrastructure and supporting its users includes 10 technicians.
Set-up date. There are 2 cyclotrons, 2 PET scanners available and a SPECT camera available for
brain studies.
NUMBER OF PATIENTS .
In this project HSR will provide 50 healthy and 150 neurological subjects properly selected by
clinical and cognitive evaluation and neuropsychological assessment. Both normal and
neurological subjects will undergo SPECT-CT or PET-CT studies, as well as MRI scans following
validated and standardized protocols.
The aim of the HSR unit is to validate and test neuroimaging methods that can be applied to the
clinical diagnostic routine set up of patients with neurodegenerative conditions, in particular
dementias and Parkinson disease..