Research
- Research Topics
- Cell Biology and Tumor Biology
- Stem Cells and Cancer
- Inflammatory Stress in Stem Cells
- Experimental Hematology
- Molecular Embryology
- Signal Transduction and Growth Control
- Epigenetics
- Redox Regulation
- Vascular Oncology and Metastasis
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- Tumour Metabolism and Microenvironment
- Personalized Medical Oncology
- Molecular Hematology - Oncology
- Cancer Progression and Metastasis
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- Neuronal Signaling and Morphogenesis
- Cell Signaling and Metabolism
- Cell Fate Engineering and Disease Modeling
- Cancer Drug Development
- Cell Morphogenesis and Signal Transduction
- Functional and Structural Genomics
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- Molecular Genetics
- Pediatric Neurooncology
- Cancer Genome Research
- Chromatin Networks
- Functional Genome Analysis
- Theoretical Systems Biology
- Neuroblastoma Genomics
- Signaling and Functional Genomics
- Signal Transduction in Cancer and Metabolism
- RNA Biology and Cancer
- Systems Biology of Signal Transduction
- Areas of Interest
- Advancement of clinical proteomics for systems medicine
- Bridging from the single cell to the cell population – Epo-induced cellular responses and erythroleukemia
- Deciphering tumor microenvironment interactions determining lung cancer development
- Mechanisms controlling the compensation of liver injury and towards model-based biomarkers for early detection of liver cancer
- Application of dynamic pathway modelling for personalized medicine
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- Molecular thoracic Oncology
- Proteomics of Stem Cells and Cancer
- Computational Genomics and System Genetics
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- Metabolic crosstalk in cancer
- Pediatric Glioma Research
- Cancer Epigenomics
- Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research
- Artificial Intelligence in Oncology
- Mechanisms of Genomic Variation and Data Science
- Neuropathology
- Pediatric Oncology
- Neurooncology
- Somatic Evolution and Early Detection
- Translational Control and Metabolism
- Soft-Tissue Sarcoma
- Precision Sarcoma Research
- Brain Mosaicism and Tumorigenesis
- Mechanisms of Genome Control
- Translational Gastrointestinal Oncology and Preclinical Models
- Translational Lymphoma Research
- Mechanisms of Leukemogenesis
- Genome Instability in Tumors
- Developmental Origins of Pediatric Cancer
- Brain Tumor Translational Targets
- Translational Functional Cancer Genomics
- Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution
- SPRINT
- Cancer Risk Factors and Prevention
- Cancer Epidemiology
- Biostatistics
- Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research
- Health Economics
- Physical Activity, Prevention and Cancer
- Preventive Oncology
- Personalized Early Detection of Prostate Cancer
- Digital Biomarkers for Oncology
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- Cancer Survivorship
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- Molecular Oncology of Gastrointestinal Tumors
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- T Cell Metabolism
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- mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies
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- Structural Biology of Infection and Immunity
- Applied Tumor Immunity
- Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology
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- Imaging In Monoclonal Plasma Cell Disorders
- 7 Tesla MRI - Novel Imaging Biomarkers
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- Medical Physics in Radiology
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- Molecular Biology of Systemic Radiotherapy
- Interactive Machine Learning
- Multiparametric methods for early detection of prostate cancer
- Molecular Mechanisms of Head and Neck Tumors
- Radiology
- Infection, Inflammation and Cancer
- Tumor Virology
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- Pathogenesis of Virus-Associated Tumors
- Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention
- Applied Tumor Biology
- Virotherapy
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- Chronic Inflammation and Cancer
- Microbiome and Cancer
- Cell Plasticity and Epigenetic Remodeling
- Experimental Hepatology, Inflammation and Cancer
- Infections and Cancer Epidemiology
- Tumorvirus-specific Vaccination Strategies
- Mammalian Cell Cycle Control Mechanisms
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CEST Imaging

CEST signals of different molecular entities in living tissue: The “Z-spectrum” is the normalized water proton signal obtained after selective radiofrequency irradiation across a range of offset-frequencies Δω (water protons resonate at Δω = 0). The CEST signal of each molecular entity can be visualized as an individual MR image.
© dkfz.de
Metabolites of low molecular mass (e.g. creatine and glucose), proteins, and other macromolecular structures carry weakly bound protons (1H nuclei) at their surface which can exchange with protons in neighboring bulk water molecules. This process, named chemical exchange (CE), occurs spontaneously and depends on concentration, pH, temperature, and other properties of the solution.
Exchanging protons can resonate at different frequencies ("chemical shifts") in the 1H NMR spectrum. Hence, they can be labeled selectively (e.g. by resonant radiofrequency irradiation) to induce equal population of the two 1H spin states in a magnetic field – this technique is called saturation. Chemical exchange pumps this information into the water pool. Ongoing irradiation accumulates saturation in the water pool and produces the CEST effect (chemical exchange saturation transfer), i.e. a detectable reduction of the NMR signal of water protons. The amplification effect can make up several orders of magnitude. Note that in contrast to conventional NMR spectroscopy (MRS), which acquires the signal of tightly bound, hence non-exchanging nuclei (1H, 13C, 19F, 31P...), CEST employs the water signal to indirectly detect the signal of weakly bound protons in biomolecules.
When CEST is combined with MR imaging (MRI) techniques, different entities of cellular compounds – as illustrated in the Figure – can be scanned in living tissue (in vivo) with a sensitivity comparable to conventional MRI. Since the discovery of the phenomenon in the year 2000, CEST-MRI has been applied to diagnostic imaging of various diseases (e.g. tumors, stroke, neurodegenerative disorders). These studies revealed new information about those pathologies on a molecular level.