Advance Imaging -Advancing imaging technologies and associated applications in life sciences, healthcare, medical research and beyond.

Surpassing the human capability of vision by aiding it with high-tech sensor systems, biological contrast
enhancement and computer processing offers immense innovation potential in fields such as medical, industry,
research, consumer, robotics, ….
The ‘Advance Imaging’ consortium fosters multidisciplinary and innovation-driven collaboration among (bio)medical
scientists, engineers, and medical doctors from three distinguished VUB/UZBrussel research groups. Continuing
the successful partnership between the groups of ETRO, Prof. Maarten Kuijk and Dr. Hans Ingelberts and the MITH
(formerly known as ICMI) group of Prof. Sophie Hernot. They enhance the consortium by forging an alliance with
the UZBrussel Department of Surgery. Dr. Ellen van Eetvelde and Dr. Jasper Stijns. Their aim is to leverage the
collective expertise to advance imaging technologies and their practical applications in life sciences, healthcare,
medical research and beyond.
Imaging techniques applied in the operating room aim to support surgeons during surgery. By high- lighting tissues
to resect and those to preserve, or by helping in the characterization of suspicious lesions, a personalized treatment
can be offered to the patients that will results in a better outcome (improved survival, less morbidity, better quality
of life). During the last decade, fluorescence imaging has shown be able to provide in real-time information during
the intervention. However, there is still huge room for improvement in this young developing field, as the current
camera systems and contrast agents lack the needed specificity.
In their previous IOF GEAR program “NLITE”, the consortium laid the technological foundations that they now want
to make blossom in the next IOF GEAR with the name ‘Advance Imaging’. In this Advance Imaging they are
stepping up in technology readiness level and deploying the technology in concrete applications. At the same time,
they also wish to strengthen their roots by exploiting new imaging technologies in which they see similar potential.
When the potential emerges from this research, they develop them further in the second tier as larger projects and
involve more stakeholders with national and international partners. In their previous Gear Program NLITE they
moved the FLT technology and fluorescent Nanobodies to that second tier with the SBO NLITE Surgery and EU
Pathfinder CoDaFlight project. They will continue this strategy in their new IOF GEAR Advance Imaging, but in
addition, they will move into a third tier with the deployment of those technologies that have proven themselves in
the lower tiers in a spinoff company and in clinical and surgical translation research. Because the surgical
applications are moving up this ladder, they found that they needed to take surgeons as important stakeholders on
board into the consortium.