# Ultra High Resolution Brain PET Scanner for in-vivo Autoradiography Imaging

> **NIH NIH U01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2020 · $804,536

## Abstract

We propose to design, build, and evaluate the Scanner Approaching in Vivo
Autoradiographic Neuro Tomography (SAVANT), a next generation PET scanner for
ultra-high resolution imaging of the human brain using hardware advances
developed by members of our collaborative team to achieve unprecedented spatial
resolution and count rate capabilities. The system will have a volumetric resolution
close to 1 mm3 (isotropic spatial resolution close to 1 mm), which is approximately
27 fold better than the best dedicated brain PET scanners and 125 fold better than
general purpose PET scanners. Such an improvement will allow visualization and
quantification of in vivo physiological events as never before possible, such as
deposition of tau neurofibrillary tangles in the entorhinal cortex in the prodromal
stages of Alzheimer's disease and dopamine transporter concentration in the
substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area. This will allow the detection and
quantitation of brain disease at a much earlier stage, decades before onset of clinical
symptoms, and permit the study of key structures in neurotransmitter systems that
currently cannot be imaged accurately with PET. The proposed high resolution PET
scanner will be validated in phantom studies and performance evaluated in healthy
volunteers.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9935055
- **Project number:** 5U01EB027003-03
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Georges El Fakhri
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $804,536
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-30 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9935055

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9935055, Ultra High Resolution Brain PET Scanner for in-vivo Autoradiography Imaging (5U01EB027003-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9935055. Licensed CC0.

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