Serving as the largest international forum for cutting edge research designed to speed the discovery of more and better treatments for cancer and other diseases, the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) held its eighth annual congress in Honolulu, Hawaii September 2-5, 2015. The theme of the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) 2015 was Precision Medicine… Visualized, which embodies current and future roles of molecular imaging in basic science, translational medicine and healthcare. The WMIC meeting included over 300 oral presentations including plenary, educational and informative sessions as well as over 900 poster presentations from world-renowned institutions from around the globe with keynote sessions on precision medicine and co-clinical trials.
“As the world’s leading forum for the presentation of groundbreaking research in molecular imaging, probe chemistry, and quantitative biology, WMIC 2015 featured the newest discoveries certain to guide precision medicine initiatives,” said WMIC Program Chair Dr. H. Charles Manning, Associate Professor of Radiology and Director of the Vanderbilt University Center for Molecular Probes. “Exemplifying the high creativity brought to molecular imaging by scientists from many research disciplines and from around the world, the meeting featured seven plenary sessions and 10 spotlight sessions with two highlighted presentations on the future of molecular Imaging from WMIS Fellows.”
View the recorded presentations from WMIC 2015 which are available as a part of WMIS membership.
Read the press release WMIC 2015: Precision Medicine… Visualized
| Awards for the Top 5 First-in-human Studies |
 Results from five first-in-human studies released during WMIC 2015 provide important new insight for discovery, detection, immunotherapy response and surgical options for patients with colorectal, breast, ovarian, prostate, and head and neck cancers. They include findings demonstrating new or refined methods for visualizing and understanding the most highly diagnosed cancers at a molecular level. Read more.
The studies are among approximately 1200 abstracts released during the WMIC meeting. |
| Gold Medal Award |
 The WMIC 2015 Gold Medal Award was presented to Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos, M.Sc., Ph.D., for his pioneering work in the field of optical molecular imaging, providing solutions for deep tissue imaging, advancing quantitative and biologically specific interrogation of living systems, and for advancing the applications of these agents to in vivo diagnosis in humans.
Professor Ntziachristos is currently the Professor and Chair for Biomedical Imaging, School of Medicine and School of Engineering at the Technische Universitat Munchen in Munich, Germany. View Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos’ award winning presentation |
| Young Investigator Award |
 WMIS proudly recognizes the outstanding commitment to research and endeavors of the next generation of researchers with the presentation of the 2015 Young Investigator Award to Elizabeth Tucker, M.D., Johns Hopkins University, at WMIC 2015 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Honoring distinction in her work based on the quality of the science, the clarity of presentation and the ability to answer questions about the abstract, Dr. Tucker was presented the Young Investigator Award for her work titled “Noninvasive imaging of tuberculosis-associated neuroinflammation with radioiodinated DPA-713 in an in vivo pediatric rabbit model.”
Please click here to read more about the Young Investigator Award |
| Commercial Innovation of the Year Award |
 WMIS presented the Commercial Innovation of the Year Award to Frederik Beekman, CEO/CSO, MILabs for his work developing G-SPECT. The award winner was chosen based on votes from WMIC attendees for the unique clinical SPECT platform that allows for <3mm resolution, low-dose studies and imaging of fast tracer dynamics.
Jeff Harford of LI-COR was selected as first runner up and the second runner up was Christian Wiest of iThera. For more details view the Commercial Innovation of the Year Award press release. |
| WIMIN Scholar Award Winners |
 The Women in Molecular Imaging Network (WIMIN) Interest Group continues its emphasis on recognizing work of high merit through the WIMIN Scholar Awards. The WIMIN Interest Group fosters the career development and advancement of women in molecular imaging sciences through all stages of their careers, take an advocacy position within the WMIS on issues of importance to women in molecular imaging sciences, provide leadership for career development opportunities for women in molecular imaging sciences, and promote and recognize the professional and scientific accomplishments of women in molecular imaging sciences.
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| Poster Awards |
| The WMIS continues its emphasis on recognizing work of high merit through poster awards of $250 USD. All abstract submissions that are accepted as posters are eligible for a poster award, based upon the abstract grade and ranking.
Ten awards of $250 USD were presented for outstanding posters. |
| ACS Biconjugate Chemistry Award |
 The American Chemical Society (ACS) recognized the work of high merit in the area of biconjucate chemistry and presented awards to
Hanwen Zhang, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Karolina Jankowska, The University of Sydney |
| Exhibitor Selected Posters |
 Exhibitors offered awards to recognize innovative science research by young investigators.
LI-COR Biosciences: Lindsay S. Moore, Mingfeng Bai, Kazuhide Sato |
| Presentations from WMIC 2015 |
 The WMIC meeting included over 300 oral presentations including plenary, educational and informative sessions as well as over 900 poster presentations from world-renowned institutions from around the globe with keynote sessions on precision medicine and co-clinical trials.
View the WMIC 2015 Program-at-a-Glance. View more details about the Plenary Sessions View recordings of oral presentations go to https://www.pathlms.com/wmis |
| This is Our Lab |
 You told us about your lab’s research and discoveries at WMIC 2015. Fifteen labs were filmed and entered in a competition to win an in-depth video exclusive on their lab and ONE lab won! Congratulations, Werner Siemens Imaging Center from Universität Tübingen, Germany. Congratulations also go out to inviCRO who won the Industry Lab Photo Contest.
Learn more about “This is Our Lab” View the acadamia lab videos and the industry lab photos. |
| Photographs and Gala Event: Island Luau Under the Stars |
 The WMIC meeting concluded with a spectacular event overlooking the lagoon on the Great Lawn of the Hilton Hawaiian Village. We enjoyed Hawaii’s diverse array of culinary influences, followed by native Hawaiian music and dramatic dance.
View the pictures from the Photobooth (password “WMIS”) View the photos from the meeting |