Therapeutic nanoparticles – particles that can serve as both imaging probes and therapeutic agents – offer advantages over traditional cancer chemotherapeutics, but the delivery of these particles to tumor tissues is a major challenge.

A new Vanderbilt study is the first to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to noninvasively measure lymphatic flow. Researchers say this technique holds future potential in the identification of patients at highest risk for developing lymphedema and in the evaluation of response to lymphedema therapy.

As part of a rigorous evaluation and quality compliance program from the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC), the Vanderbilt Breast Center has been awarded a three-year full accreditation. The NAPBC, a program of the American College of Surgeons, represents a consortium of national organizations dedicated to the improvement of the quality of care and monitoring of outcomes of patients with diseases of the breast.

John Gore, Ph.D. accepted the Earl Sutherland Prize for achievement in research at the Fall Faculty Assembly. The Sutherland Prize, the most prestigious honor that Vanderbilt bestows on a faculty member, is given annually to a member of the faculty whose achievements in research, scholarship or creative expression have received significant critical acclaim and are recognized nationally or internationally.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is commonly used to diagnose multiple sclerosis (MS) – an inflammatory disease in which the myelin sheaths around brain and spinal cord neurons are damaged and lost. Current MRI methods, however, do not quantify the extent of myelin loss, which is important for treatment planning and for monitoring disease progression and response to therapy.

Daniel Brown, M.D., has been named Director of Interventional Oncology, a new division within the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences. Brown comes to Vanderbilt from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, where he was chief of Interventional Radiology, professor of Radiology and a member of the Kimmel Cancer Center.

Two leaders in imaging science at Vanderbilt University are among 43 recipients of the 2013 Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy of Radiology Research, academy officials announced last week.

Kick back and shut your eyes. Now stop thinking. You have just put your brain into what neuroscientists call its resting state. What the brain is doing when an individual is not focused on the outside world has become the focus of considerable research in recent years. One of the potential benefits of these studies could be definitive diagnoses of mental health disorders ranging from bipolar to post-traumatic stress disorders.