Annual Meeting Information

The ¹²⁹Xe MRI Clinical Trials Consortium (Xe MRI CTC) was established in 2015 and consists of 7 Clinical Research Centers with established¹²⁹Xe in-vivo MRI capabilities and independent INDs (or equivalent) within North America and the United Kingdom.  These sites are in Cincinnati OH, Charlottesville VA, Durham NC, London ON, Madison WI, Sheffield UK, Toronto ON.

Purpose of the Consortium
The purpose of this cooperative research consortium is to facilitate clinical research, education, and awareness of the capabilities of ¹²⁹Xe MRI through support for 1) collaborative clinical research in both adult and pediatric lung diseases, including longitudinal studies of individuals with lung disease, crossectional clinical studies, phase one, two, and three trials, and/or pilot and demonstration projects; 2) training of clinical investigators in hyperpolarized gas research; 3) providing a test bed for novel approaches and technologies for biomarkers and image guided interventions, and 4) offering a platform for sharing protocols, MRI sequences, and image analysis algorithms for the associated institutions.   Each of the individual Clinical Research Centers is comprised of basic and clinical investigators, institutions, CTSAs, and relevant organizations, for the utilization of hyperpolarized gases in translational research.

This cooperative program facilitates

     •  Identification of biomarkers for disease risk
     •  Mechanisms for monitoring disease severity/activity 
     •  Development of image guided interventions 
     •  Tracking responses to treatment
     •  Identification of clinical outcomes 

The Consortium encourages development of new approaches to diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of lung diseases via NIH- and industry-funded research.

Xe Consortium sites are located at the following institutions (alphabetized by location):

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and the University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
•     Jason C Woods, PhD, Frank McCormack, MD, John P. Clancy, MD, Zackary Cleveland, PhD, Bruce Trapnell MD, Theresa Guilbert, MD

University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
•     John Mugler, PhD, Y. Michael Shim, MD, Jaime Mata, PhD, Borna Mehrad, MD, W. Gerald Teague, MD
•     Talissa Altes, MD (now Radiology Chair, University of Missouri)

Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, USA
•     Bastiaan Driehuys, PhD, Loretta Que, MD, and Tony Huang, MD

Robarts Research Institute and Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
•     Grace Parraga, PhD, David McCormack, MD

University of Wisconsin, Madison Wisconsin, USA
•     Sean Fain, PhD, Scott Nagle, MD, PhD, Ron Sorkness, PhD, Nathan Sandbo, MD, Loren Denlinger, MD, PhD

University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
•     Jim Wild, PhD, David Kiely, MD

SickKids Hospital and University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
•     Giles Santyr, PhD, Felix Ratjen, MD, Padmaja Subbarao MD