CD-4: Advanced Optical in vivo Imaging in Patients

The major focus is on the representation of the cellular and molecular changes in inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the skin and the respiratory tract. Through the accurate representation of the inflammatory processes, a response to treatment should be detected at an early stage in order to enable individual adaptation of the treatment strategy.

The close cooperation of engineering expertise with clinical applications is leading the way towards a further development of state-of-the-art imaging methods in inflammation medicine. Laser technological possibilities already enable microscopically small cell changes to be identified and assessed in real time. The existing experimental methods can only be transferred into clinical application with direct benefits for the patient by close dialogue between the different scientific disciplines.

Only if molecular and cellular changes are detected at an early stage of disease progression and treatment in inflammatory diseases, is it also possible to make and optimize individual treatment decisions. CD-4 therefore makes a decisive contribution to treatment management, and where applicable also a prediction of response to treatment, in the context of precision medicine.

There is close cooperation between CD-4 and RTF VII, in which new imaging methods are developed. In addition, the findings from molecular characterization of the inflammatory processes from the areas RTF II, III and VI can be directly compared with the new imaging methods.