# Training OPportunites in Translational Imaging Education and Research (TOP-TIER)

> **NIH NIH T32** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $263,812

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
TOP-TIER (Training OPportunities in Translational Imaging Education and Research) is a clinician scientist
post-doctoral training program at Washington University (WU) in St. Louis designed with the purpose of
providing trainees with instruction in the performance of rigorous translational imaging research. The goal
is to prepare resident and fellow trainees for careers as successful independent investigators and to
ultimately become leaders in their field, developing imaging techniques and applications that translate into
human subjects and impact healthcare. Precision Medicine is an approach to disease treatment and
prevention that takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. Development
of methods of patient-specific biomarker imaging to guide and monitor patient-specific therapies will be
needed to advance Precision Medicine. Moreover, a trained workforce is key to taking advantage of new
developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence which can be applied across disciplines, to
include targeted molecular imaging, photoacoustics, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in terms of
data acquisition, image processing, and diagnosis. Such imaging advances are interdisciplinary with
technology innovations crossing the physical, biological, and data sciences. These studies start with
preclinical mechanistic inquiries using targeted pathology-based imaging in animal disease models, and
then expand into human subjects. Human studies include safety testing and the Food and Drug
Administration’s (FDA) Investigational New Drug (IND) and Device Exemption (IDE) process. The ultimate
goal is to make research innovations widely available to the public and the entire practicing medical
community. Although this “bench-to-bedside” process has been widely acclaimed, there remains a
knowledge gap in the medical imaging research community as to how to take preclinical research into
humans, and how to then take these innovations to the public. Moreover, clinical scientists – residents and
fellows – often lack the understanding to navigate research regulatory requirements as well as the
knowledge base to understand or perform preclinical research that will inform the mechanism of innovation.
In this T32 renewal, we have optimized training to provide supportive Mentoring Teams and cover technical
advances, research rigor, and the practical aspects of grant submission to better prepare future imaging
scientists for the challenges of performing science which impacts healthcare.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10411698
- **Project number:** 2T32EB021955-06
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Hongyu An
- **Activity code:** T32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $263,812
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-08-07 → 2027-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10411698

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10411698, Training OPportunites in Translational Imaging Education and Research (TOP-TIER) (2T32EB021955-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10411698. Licensed CC0.

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